George Will: Bleakness in Baghdad

[BeyondGeography]

Bleakness In Baghdad

By George F. Will
Sunday, March 19, 2006; Page B07

At this moment, one of the most dangerous since World War II, America's perils are exacerbated by the travails of a president indiscriminately despised by Democrats and increasingly disregarded by Republicans. What should he do? First, concentrate the public's mind on the deepening dangers beyond Iraq. Second, regarding Iraq, accentuate the negative and eliminate the positive -- that is, emphasize the dangers of failure and de-emphasize talk about Iraq's becoming a democracy that ignites emulative transformation in the Middle East...

<Tom Ricks, military correspondent for The Post, has doubts. He recently returned from his fifth visit to Iraq. In March 2003 he thought that the invasion was a strategic mistake in the struggle against terrorism. His assessment of subsequent events is the title of his book, coming in September: "Fiasco." Now, however, he thinks that a U.S. withdrawal would leave chaos that might lead to radical Islamists acquiring what they most want: Saudi oil fields and Pakistani nuclear weapons. So America, he thinks, needs a plan to reduce fatalities to two or three a week, then two or three a month.

<But who, he wonders, will control the likes of Moqtada al-Sadr? Imagine, Ricks says, another cleric, the Rev. Al Sharpton, controlling the Bronx with a militia he can call into the streets at any time. Last Monday, when Bush again celebrated Iraq's progress from tyranny to December's "elections for a fully constitutional government," this was life in Iraq, as reported by the New York Times:

<"Shiite vigilantes seized four men suspected of terrorist attacks, interrogated them, beat them, killed them and left their bodies dangling from lampposts. . . . In Sadr City, the Shiite slum in Baghdad where the terrorist suspects were executed, government forces have vanished. The streets are ruled by aggressive teenagers with shiny soccer jerseys and machine guns. They set up roadblocks and poke their heads into cars and detain whomever they want. . . . 'This is our government now,' said, nodding toward Mr. Sadr's glowering face on television."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/17/AR2006031701795.html

[swag]

1. "Indiscriminately despised," George?

Oh, I do my despising discriminately. Particularly in this case.

[yellowcanine]

13. Me too. Nothing "indiscriminate" about it. That would mean we have

no reason to dispise him. Only George "family values wife dumper" Will could believe that.

[JohnnyRingo]

2. Republicans think Iraq is a "PR" problem that they have to sell like

a used car.
"slightly dinged, not wrecked." "Not worn seats, but graced with patina." "Just broken in, certainly not a deathtrap"

And then this gem:

So America, he thinks, needs a plan to reduce fatalities to two or three a week, then two or three a month.

None who will be related to George F Will, of course.

[reprehensor]

3. What a gloomy Gus.

Come on fvckhead, fall in line behind Fearless Leader!

Love that Al Sharpton reference. Is that all you got, George?

Show some backbone, fascist.

[bemildred]

4. Starting to remind me of Tom Friedman.

At least he seems to realize its a disaster. But he still clings to the delusion that we can make things better by staying, or something like that.

[eallen]

5. That article itself gives plentiful reason to despise the president.

Why then castigate those who do so? Because we sussed the lay of the land before George Will?

[Crunchy Frog]

6. He got what he wanted.

What the fuck is he complaining about?

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

7. "...And in the absence...

...of law and order, Iraqis seek safety in sectarian clustering."

Would this have been difficult to predict? Could it possibly, by any stretch, be something the architects of this illegal occupation simply overlooked? Hard to imagine. I think they knew the prolonged absence of law and order would lead to chaos and the complete breakdown of Iraqi society. They new Iraq would literally dissolve as a nation. What they didn't count on was the strength, adaptability, innovativeness, and sustained determination of the insurgency. They thought they could bomb this nation into submission through, to use their own language, "shock and awe."

They badly miscalculated and they know that now, but plod on as though everything is going according to plan. This, of course, means Iran is next. We're watching WWIII in the making being orchestrated by men who belong behind bars.

[teryang]

8. Three years ago ideological party cadre had a theory

And you Mr. Will were one of them, full of yourself and your obscurantist bullshit.

Here is another of your ridiculous non-sequitors - lets do it again in Iran!

I love the way he cites the Spanish civil war as a model for success. Er, that was a dictatorship, supported by the Nazis.

[grasswire]

9. what is this?

"First, concentrate the public's mind on the deepening dangers beyond Iraq."

such as mushroom clouds over American cities?

I think we've had enough of fearmongering.

[Doctor_J]

10. George "America-hating terrorist-enabler" Will

you're about 3 years and $500,000,000,000 short, idiot.

[reichstag911]

11. Will's just a "defeatist." n/t

[MichiganVote]

12. What should * do? He should do what he's always done...

Hide on out of there...

What deepening dangers in Iraq? This government is spending us out of everything we Americans have worked for b/c this president and his staff said there was irrefutable proof that WMD's were there and a danger to us. That Iraq was shielding terrorists. This President and his staff repeated that American troops would be welcomed as liberators and instead we've lost or maimed thousands of our young men or women and get this: they don't want us there!!

Not one of the above statements was true or is true.

I for one, am much more concerned about the deepening dangers in THIS country. What will * do about that? Not a goddamn thing that's what. Our entire federal government is a sham and they should all resign in shame.