Nation-Building Is Not Conservative

[theearthisround]

http://www.antiwar.com/paul/?articleid=4159

A recent study by the Pentagon's Defense Science Task Force on Strategic Communications concluded that in the struggle for hearts and minds in Iraq, "American efforts have not only failed, they may also have achieved the opposite of what they intended." This Pentagon report flatly states that our war in Iraq actually has elevated support for radical Islamists. It goes on to conclude that our active intervention in the Middle East as a whole has greatly diminished our reputation in the region, and strengthened support for radical groups. This is similar to what the CIA predicted in an October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate, before the invasion took place.

Then, earlier this month we learned that the CIA station chief in Baghdad sent a cable back to the U.S. warning that the situation in Iraq is deteriorating, and not expected to improve any time soon. Other CIA experts also warn that the security situation in Iraq is likely to get even worse in the future. These reports are utterly ignored by the administration.

These recent reports are not the product of some radical antiwar organization. They represent the U.S. government's own assessment of our "progress" in Iraq after two and a half years and the loss of thousands of lives. We are alienating the Islamic world in our oxymoronic quest to impose democracy in Iraq.

[radiofreesrini]

1. sabotage?

ever since this war began, i have had the strange feeling that Rumsfeld was sending a token US force to do the job of a massive one because he was playing some kind of deadly game of temptation with Iran. as i find out about the al-Zarqawi's CIA ties and the fake beheading of Nicholas Berg this hypothesis has re-emerged in my mind time and again.

a disaster is exactly what the neocons are brewing up in order to launch World War III. the events of this war are so cliche as to appear copied from a recipe book. abu ghraib was the Stanford Prison Experiment; falluja was the Warsaw Ghetto. the symbols conveyed to the Arab world are monopolized by the neocons, and they all seem to portray us in the worst possible light. i mean, "the enemy has a face. we're fighting Satan in Falluja"?! then going and bombing a bunch of minarets and killing hundreds of civilians?

i find it hard to believe that the images i summarized above are accidental. i feel that the military psyops people are trying to get the entire Arab world to hate us. are they trying to tempt Iran into invading Iraq while our Marines are so few and far between? i have always thought that Sun Tzu would never have counselled our involvement in Iraq. it looks like a setup to me. iran would just have to pinch off that little Strait of Hormuz and our kids would be TRAPPED in there, cut off from supplies and escape. of course, this kind of future would perhaps mean world war iii, it would definitely mean the end of america's infinite oil consumption, it could precipitate all kinds of chaos all around the world.

the only explanation is that bush, cheney, rumsfeld, rove, rice etc are psychotic and actually get off on the thought of death, murder, etc. i feel that cheney's involvement with flummoxing NORAD on september 11 is a smoking gun that points at his direct involvement in the terrible events of that day of infamy. 100,000 american soldiers cannot stave off an army of several million fanatic Iranians eager to kick the Great Satan out of their holy land. i worry that they have been set up to die for political reasons. :(

[The Backlash Cometh]

2. Conservatives were against nation building. That was their

platform. Besides, all this shrapnel that we're dealing with today, seems to overlook the one critical factor behind this entire Iraq mess. Bush had ONE plan when he went into Iraq. It was called, "Shock and Awe." His one plan for Iraq was to attack Saddaam before they reached the deadline that he gave Saddaam. (Remember the deadline?) He expected to hit Saddaam in that first hour. Once he failed, Bush has been working out of plan.

And to no surprise, the media has never discussed this. Never brought it to the attention of the public. That everything we're dealing with has been a growing avalanche because Bush will never accept that he made a mistake going into Iraq and that he underestimated the amount of human pain and suffering that he is inflicting on our service men. He will continue walking around like a teflon King, and he will succeed at driving us further into this quagmire as long as the media lets him.