SP
<Man it feels good to have had a good night's sleep for a change.>
Indeed, however, no one on the ground in Iraq is sleeping any better. They probably got a little lift when Rummy resigned, but they still have to run patrols- they are right back in it.
The question becomes, how do you get 170,000 troops out of Iraq (and/or Afghanistan) without getting a whole bunch of people killed - and I'm talking on all sides.
Our departure from Vietnam, those indelible pictures of the Huey lifting off the US Embassy remind us that it was a blood bath and a lot of people were killed by the NVA after we left. If you look at it today, Intel is going to build a semiconductor plant in Saigon and the emerging economy is prospering. Was it worth it? My personal opinion is no it wasn't. Was it cut and run? yes. Could we have accomplish a military victory - possibly...with a million troops not a half a million and an invasion of the North... not being sitting ducks on the DMZ. Had China and the Soviets entered the war formally on the side of the North it would have been a world catastrophe. But, even if we had won in the North, like Iraq, victory would have ended up with a mess on our hands.
So, rather than wringing my hands....here's what I would do:
1. Redeploy the majority of the troops to Kuwait and then home from there - you can establish a secure corridor for troop movement - that would be incredibly costly, however we are already spending the money and going nowhere. Work a deal with Kuwait saying we will have all our troops out of there within a year.
2. Support the Iraqi army with counterinsurgent Special Ops...that's what we should have done in the first place this is a counterinsurgent war - not the conventional force we have now.
3. Broker a deal for 3 countries Kurd, Sunni and Shia - put some incentive money behind it (again, we are already spending tons of money and going nowhere so why not invest it in something that has half a prayer of working).
4. Tell the American people and the rest of the world that this will be a mess - a tragedy. The difference now is we are no longer investing in a losing strategy. It will be worse than it is now. People need to know the unvarnished truth.
5. Sit down and talk with Iran, Syria, Jordan, Palestinians, Lebanese and Israelis - open diplomatic ties...nothing gets solved it you aren't willing to talk and listen.
6. Continue strong counter terrorist intelligence coordination with our allies.
Both the demos and the republican are using the Baker Study group as a stalking horse for the solution on the war. Chris Matthews articulated it beautifully for me..words to the effect "the Baker group is like a tank in combat - all the infantry guys, Repubs and Demos are creeping along behind the tank and are glad it's there".
I really believe a real leader should emerge from the Democrats and take on the responsibility of resetting the strategy - no matter how much it makes you puke. This is a mess and will continue to be. This is D-Day on the beach - you have a choice of freezing in place and dying on the beach or making your move and have some chance of getting out of this hell hole.
We need ideas - we need solutions..our guys are getting crunched while we wait.
Respectfully submitted
Altair19 |
