NY Times columnist Paul Krugman actually gets it — the War in Iraq only strengthens the hand of those who would do us harm. His solution is to set a withdrawal deadline, so that the Iraqis can take responsibility for their own protection instead of depending on us.
He also says that America is being held hostage to the whims of Bush:
Bolstered by the Downing Street Memo, people are finally starting to realize that Bush had made up his mind to go to war all along, despite the denials of sidekick Tony Blair at Prime Minister’s Questions Wednesday. And Bush’s approval ratings have taken a hit; a Survey USA poll of all 50 states shows that Bush’s approval rating is at 43%, with 52% disapproving. Even in Texas, people are skeptical of the President; his approval rating there is only 50% to 47%.
Krugman goes on to explain that Iraqi has become a training ground for terrorists:
Before the war, opponents warned that it would strengthen, not weaken, terrorism. And so it has: a recent C.I.A. report warns that since the U.S. invasion, Iraq has become what Afghanistan was under the Soviet occupation, only more so: a magnet and training ground for Islamic extremists, who will eventually threaten other countries.
America has engaged in regime change before within the last 20 years. We have toppled governments in Grenada, Panama, Haiti, and Yugoslavia. But there was a big difference between these countries and Iraq. In Iraq, crippling sanctions which killed hundreds of thousands of children through malnutrition and preventable diseases made our government very unpopular. Therefore, the administration should have foreseen that an attempt to change regimes in Iraq would allow Bin Laden and Zaraqwi to exploit the plight of the Iraqi people for their own evil purposes.
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In other news:
Is Syria next? US freezing assets of Syrian officials.
The Post’s E.J. Dionne: Poll numbers after speech show little enthusiasm for war among Americans.
Bush: Of course we’re winning; just look at this summary of body counts!
Brookings Institution op-ed: Bush ignored security and economic policies in Tuesday speech.
Sistani aide, 17 others killed by attacks.
Extraordinarily high pollution levels in Iraq.
Early US attitudes towards Iraqi strife: "Oh, it’s just them killing each other!"
An Iraqi journalist’s struggle to survive in Iraq.
How the right fails to protect us against health and terrorist threats.
It lifted my spirits today. Having a really long bumout right now about the war and “war issues”. Iraq belongs to the Iraqis. It is their country, not mine and our military’s country. We talk about training their forces. How much real training do some of our Guard troops have over there? If our troops are so omnipotent and all knowing then why have they been getting their ass handed to them lately? I think that Iraqis can figure out how to make decisions for themeselves……really, most of them look like they may even be adults. It’s only photos that I’m seeing but they look pretty big and even a little mature in a couple. Damn, they even know how to make their own coffins over there……here in America some of us are lucky if we can make our own toast in the morning and we have to have corporations make our coffins. Our coffins for dead people to take an eternal dirtnap in are much nicer than what our living homeless sleep in every night, oh the perks that come with living in Corporate America!
I talked to a military veteran over at Kos; he said it only took the military 6 weeks to train new soldiers for WW1 and WW2. I suggest Bush is lying when he says we need to stay there to train the Iraqi soldiers.