Our choices in Iraq are few and none. Despite the Iraq study group's "put an almost hopeless face on it but maintain we're not quitting" report, there is almost nothing we can do there.
They must have known this. The deciders have almost all, belatedly, realized we're not dealing with larvae stage Americans but rather an Iraqi culture saturated with mores, ideals and policies we find incompatible with the central governance of a nation containing at least three separate religious or ethnic groups.
But that primary stumbling block isn't the major point of discussion and there's no solution to that fatal issue. They evidently gloss over it and come up with a "plan" of drawing down our combat troops, increasing training of the Iraqi units and implanting our troops with their units.
How is that going to instill in the Iraqis the desire to fight to the death for a central government which can guarantee a better life for ALL of them, including their minorities. An idea, by the way, which seems to have little popular support among the "us" groups when discussing the "them" groups?
Their recommended plan won't make a dent in the underlying systemic problems that have led to the insurgency, sectarian violence, endemic corruption and chaos.
If the Iraqi study group's recommendations are followed and we imbed with their units what we can be certain of is that whoever wants us out of Iraq will simply begin targeting our unprotected "advisors."
It won't be hard; simply use any of their men planted in the unit and POOF... our imbedded soldier is dead. It won't take too many losses before we go to plan B, which is pull back to safe enclaves.
So why would the Iraq study group suggest a plan which WILL NOT work without enthusiastic support from the Iraqi population when the Iraqi population has repeatedly proven itself willing to sacrifice it's citizens killing Americans and has not chosen to sacrifice them protecting Americans?
Why would anyone with a "realistic" view of the situation offer such a flawed solution?
The apparent answer is that it's a face-saving measure to allow us to begin drawing down our troops while pretending we "plan" to continue to support the current Iraqi government. It allows us to claim we will have left on our own terms by claiming that if only the Iraqi units hadn't "turned" on our "advisors" we'd have stayed the course.
Maybe it makes it more palatable for some in this country and maybe it makes it easier on the world stage to claim that we have given the Iraqis every chance to succeed but, for the reasons everything else we've tried has failed, it is a guaranteed path to failure.
And more Americans will lie lifeless alongside that dark path.
So is the Iraq study group that stupid, are they that Machiavellian or am I missing something? Ed |
