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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dale Baker who wrote (54504)	3/19/2008 5:59:54 PM
From: epicure	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 543518

Even a broken clock... :-) SOMEDAY it might have a turning point.

To: Dale Baker who wrote (54504)	3/19/2008 6:22:45 PM
From: Cogito	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 543518

>>"[I]sn't the surge working? Well, it depends what you mean by 'working.' In recent months, casualties--American and Iraqi--dropped substantially. However, three points need to be made. First, casualties are rising once more, though not to 2006 levels. Second, while the surge was certainly a factor in reducing casualties, it was far from the only factor. There were also the alliances of convenience between U.S. forces and Sunni tribesmen against the common foe of al-Qaida in Iraq (an alliance that preceded the surge); the moratorium on violence called by Muqtada Sadr and his Shiite militia (a policy that may be suspended as the Sunni militias grow stronger); and the fact that many areas of Iraq had already been ethnically cleansed."<< Dale - This paragraph refers to the thing that most concerns me about the so-called "surge" and how well it's said to be working. A large part of the success of this strategy has come from cooperating with and supplying arms to Sunni tribesmen. That's great, but these people will have no lasting allegiance to us. We armed the same kinds of people in Afghanistan in the 80s. What was the end result? The Soviets were defeated, surely, and driven out of the country. But their defeat was followed by the rise of Al Qaeda and the Taliban, and the political flowering of Osama bin Laden. We should not forget that he was once our ally. I wonder what new bin Laden is growing into virulent manhood in Iraq right now, enabled by our weapons and nourished by our short-sighted foolishness. - Allen