insomnomaniac

My new position on Iraq

I realize this is going to come as a shock considering my post below from just a couple of days ago, advocating the immediate bombing of targets inside Iran, but I have come--quite suddenly--to the conclusion that it's time to go. Yes, you read correctly. It is TIME TO GET THE HELL OUT OF IRAQ.

There. I've said it. I wish I felt better about it, but I don't.

I have supported this war from the git-go. I have supported the "Surge" but my increasing rage at this President over immigration has led me to believe that he no longer deserves my support for this policy either.

Does this mean I've changed my mind and that our withdrawal won't leave a chaotic untenable situation? NOPE. Still believe that, 100%. I think the minute we *start* to withdraw the shit is going to hit the fan. I still think Iran will move in--openly and without shame--and I still think a bloodbath of Pol-Pot proportions will ensue. The only difference now is that I don't give a shit.

No, really, I don't. I mean, why should I? Have you seen Gaza lately? I'm starting to come to the conclusion that some of the naysayers, the ones I used to call "bigots" were right all along. These people--Muslims who'll kill for their religion--can't handle freedom. Period. They can't handle it, and they therefore sure as hell don't deserve for one more drop of American blood to be shed in defense of it FOR them. Fuck them. I'm sorry to those brave souls in Iraq who *do* want freedom, I really am. I know you're there, I wish you well. Shit, I wish you a free ticket outta there and into safe assylum here if your bonafides are in order. But I think the time has come to face reality. There are just too many people in your country who would rather kill each other than live in peace. They would rather settle old grievances (your grandfather stole my goat types of grievances) than set them aside and build a future for their children. Apparently they don't care if their grandchildren are able to say "Your grandfather killed my chance at freedom."

But I'll tell you what, there are American CHILDREN who are sick of saying "You killed my Daddy (or Mommy)." Enough is enough.

And Mr. President, you've had your chance too, it's time to go.

How you ask? How should we do it? What about our long-term interests in the region? What about them "following us home?"

Well, I wish this were my idea, but it's not. This comes straight from my Dad, but he's put into words the best plan I've heard in a loooong time.

I think the time has come for Bush to say that it is obvious that forces in the region, including Iran, Shiite and Sunni extremists
from a number of countries, and anti-US extremists from various countries in the region, such as Al Quaeda, have made it impossible for the Iraqi's (with the kind of aid that the US is able to give), to
establish a representative government for the country.

Since this objective, which was the secondary objective of the original decision to implement a regime change (getting rid of Saddam), cannot be achieved, we will begin withdrawing our military from Iraq, except from the autonomous Kurdish region, if the government of that region asks us to continue to deploy troops there.

With that announcement Bush should couple a warning that if any extremist group is emboldened by our withdrawal to start attacking US installations or US territory, and we trace the attackers to any country or region, we will respond by devastating all of the infrastructure of that country or region, including power plants, roads, bridges, etc....

That would transform the campaign debate about Iraq into a debate about what will our next leader do when the next attack occurs--and
Hillary won't be able to avoid it by saying it's hypothetical. That way we'll put the candidates on the hot seat, and when whoever is
elected is elected, we'll know what we're getting (and if we elect a
candidate who said he/she would just jawbone, we will have invited
another attack).

Bingo!

You see, we're not saying we can leave and expect not to be back, let's just put them on notice that when we come back, it will be by AIR not by land, and we won't be so choosey about the targets this time. The time for military-as-social-worker should end, NOW. I love--no, adore--the members of our military for their service, but with every passing day I'm more convinced that they have not been allowed to do their jobs, not really, not the way they were trained to do(i.e., seek the enemy, surround the enemy, kill the enemy. Full stop.) Instead they seem to be bogged down in the "seek the enemy" step more often than not. Well, as cruel as this sounds, my present attitude is that the enemy is in Iraq in the same way the enemy was in Germany or Japan. We didn't pick and choose *which* enemies to target in Dresden, nor should we do it in Falluja or Basra or Mosul or Bagdad. No more. Enough is enough.

If this is really a fight about our national interests, then surely bringing it to a quick decisive END is also in our national interests. After years of fighting the "nice" way what have we wrought? A terrorist magnet, that's what.

Do I sound like a left-wing moonbat? I'm sure I do, but you know what? The genius of the left is that they thwart policy for so long the chaos they claim the policy is causing (the same policy they have strangled and twisted until it's less of a policy than a half-measure) will come to pass. Make no mistake, I still blame the left in this country for the present situation in Iraq--at least as much as the terrorists and extremists--it is there fault that we've had to spend so much time pretending Islam is "peaceful" and that we could go door-to-door fighting terrorists and "insurgents" in Iraq. I still blame the Arabists at the State Dept. (liberals all of them) for giving self-defeating nation-building advice to Bush, and I still blame the media for exaggerating all the bad news and serving as willing propagandists for the enemy. The *only* new thing here is that I blame Bush personally for listening to all of them, and I blame the Iraqis for not stepping up and telling them all to FUCK OFF, for not recognizing the beautiful gift our soldiers gave them--we taxpayers gave them--of freedom from tyranny. They want tyranny apparently, badly enough that they're willing to die for it.

So let's give them their wish.

If I sound harsh, sorry, but there it is.

Posted by insomnomaniac at June 14, 2007 7:25 AM | TrackBack