Spring Break
Iraq War faces problems that are unlikely to change
Steve Markley
Issue date: 4/21/06 Section: OpEd Page
With all the furor erupting over the six retired generals now calling for the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald "Roach Excrement" Rumsfeld (the nickname has to do with the list of inanimate objects you'd least like to run a war), one thing has become abundantly clear: Even as the Battle for Iraq rages on, the Battle Over Who Lost Iraq has had its official inception.
Earlier this year I wrote a column called "War in Iraq going just swell," and it detailed just a few of the colossal blunders of the Bush administration and the reasons we would continue to fail in this ill-conceived foreign policy nightmare.
I hate being right. As good as it feels to have the truth on your side, it definitely doesn't feel good knowing people in Iraq whose lives are being risked for what will ultimately be a lost cause, and it doesn't feel good watching corrupt politicians and ill-informed yokels spouting off at the mouth about how we're trying to bring freedom and democracy to the Iraqi people while the Iraqis walk down the streets with the delightful opportunity of being burned alive by U.S. rounds of white phosphorous - if they escape insurgent car bombs and manage to avoid Shiite death squads.
Back when I wrote that column, I really had no idea that it would devolve this quickly. The words "civil war" were being thrown around, but I freely admit that I, along with FOX News, thought this was the talk of nervous nellies. Perhaps the insurgents would string together some violence and vicious civil unrest for the next decade, but a civil war?
Now even big-name Republican senators like Chuck Hagel are freely admitting that Iraq is on the verge of collapse, while every option to the United States is thoroughly unappealing. We won't leave, simply because whoever cut that deal would have to answer for Iraq turning into a pot-bellied pig with a large firecracker shoved up its ass overnight (it's a sight to behold). We won't triple the number of soldiers over there (which is what a lot of folks think is what it will take to quell the violence) because that would mean watching every veteran who didn't lose a limb shipped back with the possibility of a limited draft to bolster the ranks looming not far behind (especially with Iran acting like the drunk guy at the party about to start throwing blind punches).
Earlier this year I wrote a column called "War in Iraq going just swell," and it detailed just a few of the colossal blunders of the Bush administration and the reasons we would continue to fail in this ill-conceived foreign policy nightmare.
I hate being right. As good as it feels to have the truth on your side, it definitely doesn't feel good knowing people in Iraq whose lives are being risked for what will ultimately be a lost cause, and it doesn't feel good watching corrupt politicians and ill-informed yokels spouting off at the mouth about how we're trying to bring freedom and democracy to the Iraqi people while the Iraqis walk down the streets with the delightful opportunity of being burned alive by U.S. rounds of white phosphorous - if they escape insurgent car bombs and manage to avoid Shiite death squads.
Back when I wrote that column, I really had no idea that it would devolve this quickly. The words "civil war" were being thrown around, but I freely admit that I, along with FOX News, thought this was the talk of nervous nellies. Perhaps the insurgents would string together some violence and vicious civil unrest for the next decade, but a civil war?
Now even big-name Republican senators like Chuck Hagel are freely admitting that Iraq is on the verge of collapse, while every option to the United States is thoroughly unappealing. We won't leave, simply because whoever cut that deal would have to answer for Iraq turning into a pot-bellied pig with a large firecracker shoved up its ass overnight (it's a sight to behold). We won't triple the number of soldiers over there (which is what a lot of folks think is what it will take to quell the violence) because that would mean watching every veteran who didn't lose a limb shipped back with the possibility of a limited draft to bolster the ranks looming not far behind (especially with Iran acting like the drunk guy at the party about to start throwing blind punches).
