Yesterday, in Iraq this “stuff” happened:
Yesterday’s attacks in the capital’s Sha’ab neighborhood and in the town of Khalis, in volatile Diyala Province, appeared to have been meticulously synchronized to inflict severe casualties.
In Baghdad’s Shalal market, two suicide bombers struck almost simultaneously at either end of a dense maze of shopping stalls, killing 80 people and injuring more than 100. […]
n Khalis, about 40 miles north of Baghdad, four powerful vehicle bombs exploded in quick succession within a radius of less than half a mile. Body parts were hurled in all directions, pelting shops, homes, and cars, eyewitnesses said.
At least 52 people were killed and about 80 more injured in the coordinated assault, officials said.
Yet, what did our new Ambassador to Iran, Andrew Crocker, have to say at his swearing in ceremony in the Green Zone? Take a look:
“Terrorists, insurgents, and militias continue to threaten security in Baghdad and around the country,” said the diplomat. Fulfilling US goals in Iraq would be hard, he said, but: “If I thought it was impossible, I would not be standing here today.”
I’m glad he doesn’t think that the goal of providing security in Iraq isn’t impossible. What he leaves unsaid, however, is that at this point the odds of American troops, Bush vetted loyalists American diplomats and private Blackwater mercenaries (bought and paid for with your American tax dollars) actually achieving that goal is highly improbable. Especially when the latest message from the Bush family’s closest ally in the region is this:
(cont.)
[King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia] surprised Washington on Wednesday by saying at an Arab summit, “In beloved Iraq, blood flows between brothers in the shadow of illegitimate foreign occupation and hateful sectarianism, threatening a civil war.”
Illegitimate foreign occupation? That’s what’s called finally acknowledging the giant 8000 pound Gorilla in your living room after officially ignoring its presence for the last 4 years. It’s also the truth, much as the President and all his loyal Bushies have tried to hide that fact.
There was no legitimate reason to invade Iraq. No imminent threat to the American people. No Al Qaeda connections with Saddam Hussein. No UN resolution authorizing the use of force. Nothing but lies and half truths used by the President and his faithful minions to justify an aggressive war for the purpose of securing Iraq’s oil and maintaining an intimidating US military presence in the region to “keep the local systems in line.”
There’s a famous scene from John Boorman’s classic film on the Arthurian Legend, Excalibur, in which the wizard Merlin explains to King Uther why he shall never reign in peace as the King of England. Here’s the relevant dialogue from the film when Merlin (played by Nicol Williamson) said in the film when he comes to reclaim the baby Arthur from King Uther, as payment for helping Uther deceive and murder the Duke of Cornwall, with whom he had just concluded a peace treaty, in order to sleep with Cornwall’s wife Ygraine:
Uther Pendragon: To kill and be king, is that all?
Merlin: Perhaps not even that.
Uther Pendragon: You strike me with words hard as steel!
Merlin: You betrayed the Duke. You stole his wife. You took his castle. Now no one trusts you. You’re not the one.
After the last four years of King George’s misadventures in Iraq, no one trusts him or America, anymore. Not our allies, not our “friends” and not a majority of the American people. I doubt even Jim Phelps and Ethan Hunt could pull off the trick of turning Bush’s soured Middle East strategy into lemonade at this point. Then again, maybe we need to send someone “over there” who truly believes in magical thinking — someone like Senator Joe Lieberman:
March 27, 2007
“It is clear that for the first time in a long time, there is reason for cautious optimism about Iraq.”
* * *
January 5, 2007
My own impression, having been there again most recently, is that it remains winnable. And it remains winnable in the first case for something that should be self-evident, but I hear it from the Iraqis we talk to, I heard it from our own soldiers who interact with the Iraqis…our troops believe they can win, and that’s really important.
And a colonel followed me out and said, quite emotionally, “Sir, I regret that I did not have a chance to say this in the meeting. I want you to know on behalf of the soldiers in my unit and myself that we understand why we’re here. We believe in the mission. We are confident we can win it. And we want to fight it to a victorious finish. We need some more troops to make that happen.”
* * *
July 6, 2006
The situation in Iraq is a lot better, different than it was a year ago. The Iraqis held three elections. They formed a unity government. They are on the way to building a free and independent Iraq. Their military — two-thirds of their military is now ready, on their own, to lead the fight with some logistical backing from the U.S. or stand up on their own totally. That`s progress. […]
I am confident that the situation is improving enough on the ground that by the end of [2006] we will being to draw down significant numbers of American troops and by the end of next year more than half of the troops who are there now will be home.
* * *
November 29, 2005 (additional Link)
I have just returned from my fourth trip to Iraq in the past 17 months and can report real progress there. More work needs to be done, of course, but the Iraqi people are in reach of a watershed transformation from the primitive, killing tyranny of Saddam to modern, self-governing, self-securing nationhood–unless the great American military that has given them and us this unexpected opportunity is prematurely withdrawn. […]
There are many more cars on the streets, satellite television dishes on the roofs, and literally millions more cell phones in Iraqi hands than before. All of that says the Iraqi economy is growing. […]
Does America have a good plan for doing this, a strategy for victory in Iraq? Yes we do.
Yes. The “Independent” Senator from Connecticut must be the right man for the job. He’s a true believer. Who else but him could even imagine Bush’s repeated claims that we can achieve “victory” in Iraq has any possible basis in reality?