Thanks... Yesterday I posted a few comments on Hagel's "position paper" as part of a discussion on a different forum. They are a little rushed - but basically do make the point - namely, that to run like a cowardly bully who encountered resistance is NOT a good way out, and that there are other options.
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Very briefly (no time) -- paradoxically, I agree with Hagel and other critics on many things. "De-Baathization" was an idiotic idea which could have only been born in the mind of a bureaucrat who has zero understanding about how life is structured in a totalitarian society.
My general thinking about Iraq... is somewhat similar to ideas proposed by Stratfor - and I thought so since before the invasion took place. We needed to recognize our limitations from the very start. We removed Saddam Hussein and his apparatus of terror and oppression - and Iraqis owe us for that. Most of the rest should have been up to them.
As I said before, they did not pay us enough for us to patrol their streets and serve as their police department. We should have made it clear from the beginning that we will not accept such an unrealistic responsibility.
If a clown brute like Zarqawi could reignite the 14 hundred year old war between the Shi'a and the Sunni -- there is nothing that we can - or, frankly - must - do about this. We cannot conduct a war against both sides so that they would stop fighting. They will get tired and will stop on their own.
But what happened, happened. It is still not too late for us to relocate outside the population centers (rather than cut and run). From such (relatively) safe locations we can influence events in a more deliberate and "surgical" way - without risking the lives of our boys and girls in uniform on a minute-to-minute basis. And the costs would be lower.
As soon as our enemies in Iraq - and in Syria, and in Iran - will realize that we are getting smarter, that we are refusing to be bled - and digging in - much of their "'resistance" bullshit will no longer make sense. For a change, THEY will have to rack their brains about how to adjust to the new reality.
Cut and run - as what is, basically, proposed by Hagel - is a prescription for a long term disaster. Even if we do elect to involve Iran and Syria into the process - this MUST be done from a position of strength. And this position of strength is easy to achieve - don't run like a bully and a coward. Step aside, maintain presence - let the locals sort out their issues - and, slowly, influence events in the direction which would be in your (and other good guys) interests. |
