POLITIX
Boy!
What a bunch of hogwash bwg blows out.
No one can spin the BS like the Republicans.
I often wonder if W. believes his own blather himself.
If he is either an Evil Manipulator or an Innocent Buffoon being
led on a leash.
It is merely my opinion, but here it is.
The President's speech was another smoke and mirrors presentation before a military crowd who responded to his every flag waving utterance.
But it was all misguided, as is the basic policy he has put forth from the beginning. Further obfuscation. A sham.
The new whitepaper report "Plan For Victory In Iraq" loses site that the enemies who attacked us from Afghanistan (another country entirely) are now spread out over sixty countries around the world.
The leader who attacked us has slipped through our fingers and is commanding his following just by his survival in the midst of our so-called ally Pakistan.
Pakistan; whose leader Mosharif is barely in charge and whose constituancy form the largest boiling pot of America hating extremists anywhere.
Pakistan; where Dr. Kahn the spreader of nuclear bomb secrets and supplies to outlaw nations now lives glorified in the splendor of a 'house arrest'.
And what have we got in custody? A two-bit dictator Saddam who could have been taken out with a well placed sniper years ago.
And he sits like a martyr in his grey designer suit and looking not-so-dangerous in a jail cell where his mere survival has further encouraged his own group of insurgents to carry on the fight.
George's daddy's big mistake now 'fixed' by dutiful son.
The central front on the war on terror was never Iraq.
Iraq was an unfortunate dictatorship that was propped up long ago by the CIA because he was the enemy of our enemy Iran.
And here we have sent our pride and joy, our best and brightest, to give blood, life and limb to do the work that Iran always wanted to do.
We have eliminated the main enemy to the Iranian Shiite take over of Iraq.
It is not a cross-border take over, it is a religious and cultural take over that will occur over years and years of Iranian backed Shiite insurgency.
Not our matter.
Not our matter.
So why did we get trapped doing their work?
Bad leadership. Misguided goals. Ill informed participation.
The training of police and soldiers in Iraq to eventually run the country after we leave is nothing compared to the training we are offering the insurgents of all stripes.
Whether they are Saddam loyalists, or Al Qaida foot soldiers, or Shiite extremists, or Iraqui nationalists, they are ALL getting first hand training in fighting the best soldiers in the world - US troops.
When an average tennis player plays every day against Bjorn Borg it only improves his game, whether or not he wins any matches.
The argument that we are fighting them there instead of here is a sham argument. A straw dog.
Meanwhile the rest of the world sees our foolishness. Whether they are 'fer us or agin us' they see a misguided effort.
We have a weakened presence in the world. We have tarnished our moral standing.
Our limitations are being continually exposed drawing off any power of the mystique we used to have.
We should not have gone to Iraq in the first place, but once begun, there should have been a much better plan.
The expectation that Cheney and Rumsfeld promoted of being welcome liberators was a giant and stupid blunder and an inexcusable failure of forecasting.
By under committing troops to do the job right we have only strengthened our enemies who have capitalized on our ineptness and lack of foresight.
There was no contingency plan for the scenario that actually did enfold.
The looting, the breakdown, the insurgency all came as a surprise to the great leader and his merry men.
Afghanistan was where our initial battle began. It was justifiable. The entire world was on our side for that one.
Our enemy Al Qaida and Osama Bin Laden could have been captured and obliterated with half of the effort we misguidedly put to Iraq. Less than half.
It would have been far easier and very much cheaper to rebuild Afghanistan and to make that country a shinning beacon to the area.
Has anybody looked at a map?
Has anybody checked the history?
I mean, Iran ELECTED a president in 1948.
The CIA under a Republican administration removed him in 1953 at the urging of British oil interests and then implanted the Shah.
(It might be noted that Truman turned down this idea to remove an elected president}
The propping up of the Shah lead to the popularization of extremist Islam through the Ayatollah.
That was the beginning. It got worse from there.
The President has taken advantage of the American public's lack of knowledge or interest in the history of that entire region. He has conveniently incorporated the left-over Iraq mess of his father into the "war on terror"
Is there any question why he has delayed the releasing of the memos and directives and the Presidential Papers of the Reagan and Bush administrations?
Putting off for another ten years our right to know the facts. (Remember that? It was one of his first moves as President)
I am sure it will explain much of why we are now in the mess we are in.
All accomplished with the same players, now trying to cover their tracks.
Don't get me started......
by steven bolstad
