The UN bombing will be his Dien Bien Phu and Tet Offensive -- combined

[Kolesar]

That was the moment when every analyst of the war can no longer deny that the post-conquest plan was fatally flawed and the
US is stuck in a quagmire. The White House and Pentagon should have realized a month ago that we need some sort of
international presence there to "legitimize" a new government. Now, I fear it is too late.

Beyond that, the troops have been "promised" that they will be rotated out after one year in Iraq. There are not enough soldiers
to replace them as it is. There will certainly be a decrease in enlistments over the next year, so the US will be forced to withdraw
most of its already-over-committed forces. America will need other countries to move in to relieve us--with UN backing, or we will
withdraw and leave Iraq to the Southern Shiites and the remains of the Bath party.

This is America's darkest hour. She will lose the oilfields of Iraq, our relations with the Saudis are skidding downward, and the
other major producer, Iran is on the defensive and can fight us. It looks like we lost Oil War II.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

1. What UN bombing?

Didn't you hear?

WE got Chemical Ali!!!!!

Woo-hoo!

[Generic Other]

8. Again!

:)

[caledesi]

2. ST - Well said.

Agree that this is the turning point of the Misadministration.

They are going down.

There are just no way out of this debacle:

Can't call on other nations to help us.
Don't want to send in more troops (that would look really bad...Vietnam?)
Won't go to UN with new resolution (rather "keep face" and let our troops die)
Can't leave.

The bombing of the UN was the beginning of the end. Now these Arabs are organized and are beginning to give us, the US, a strong message - Get the f*ck out. Wait for a major attack directly on our troops...it's coming.

[Peachhead22]

3. Vietnam syndrome

Politics and "saving face" as the overwhelming consideration in military decisions=The Vietnam Syndrome. How can Powell even look himself in the mirror anymore?

Caldesi wrote:

"Can't call on other nations to help us.
Don't want to send in more troops (that would look really bad...Vietnam?)
Won't go to UN with new resolution (rather "keep face" and let our troops die)
Can't leave."

[FloridaPat]

4. Your forgot about the draft. They could bring that back

and then the rotation could start. Another problem - what if a LOT more of the troops get sick with the mystery illness. They could have a mass mutiny. I wonder when all those flag wavers are going to start demanding food, water and care for the troops they so loudy proclaimed they were supporting.

[tedzbear]

5. Yep. Bring back the draft.

That should be very popular with the Freepers. Now they'll have to send their own kids to the front.
Muhahahahahaha!

:kick:

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

6. Powell is trying to drum up support for a new UN resolution.

Just read this from AP.

Powell is going hat in hand, even to France and Germany's reps. But, they're on to the ploy of trying to use the bombing to get more troops. He's still refusing to give up American "command and control" and the Russians, in particular, won't have that.

Not quite Tet or Dien Bien Phu - more like Khe Sanh. Not quite catastrophe - yet.

Now, if the press and "our" candidate would just start asking questions - they can even be polite about it.

How long? How much is it costing? How much is it going to cost? How many casualties are expected? Why wasn't this planned for? Where are the WMD? Why wasn't the UN building properly defended? How many civilian casualties? The list of embarassing questions is endless.

The truth is that there is no way out at this point. There is no "enemy" to negotiate with. Most of the major nations have no desire to join the USA in the quicksand. The installation of a puppet government is seen for what it is. The only possible response that the neo-imperialists have is to send in more troops to win a "war" that the fratboy-in-chief has proclaimed a victory. The more troops, the more repression. The more repression, the more resistance. So much for "giving the Iraqi people democracy".

It's beginning to be noticed that the Emperor's clothes are a bit less than magnificent.

[dfong63]

7. at least LBJ was smart enough

... not to tell General Giap to "bring em on".

``Why, those dirty Iraqnamese commies ... I mean, saddamites ... let them come, we're ready for em! I'll brain em with my 9-iron. Laura will run them over with her car. The twins will bash their brains out with broken beer bottles. Poppy will puke in their laps. And Ma'll come out in her see-thru nightgown. They'll rue the day they thought to threaten America.''

[lindashaw]

9. A different tone coming from journalists?

I was struck by the openness of the Fineman editorial posted on MSNBC.

http://www.msnbc.com/news/955004.asp?0dm=N22FN


WASHINGTON, Aug. 20 — Mark the day: The blast that rocked the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad was more than a massacre of innocents. It also was a tipping point in American politics.

NOW WE KNOW for certain that the 2004 election will be, virtually to the exclusion of anything else, a referendum on President Bush’s decision to go Iraq — and a debate over whether doing so made us safer, or put us in greater danger, in the war on global terrorism.
For the White House, this is a case of “be careful what you wish for.” As was made clear on the deck of the Abe Lincoln, they want to run Bush for re-election as the Man in the Flight Suit. But now it’s not clear whether that garment was a coronation robe or a straitjacket.
The events in Baghdad (and Jerusalem) make it clear that the news from Iraq is likely to remain unsettling for the foreseeable future. Voters have been growing more dubious about the war in Iraq; that process is likely to be accelerated by pictures of carnage on cable news and the front pages. True, Richard Nixon won re-election in the midst of the unpopular Vietnam War in 1972. But Nixon touted his “secret peace plan.” Bush isn’t going to be able to offer the hope of peace any time soon. Terrorism doesn’t work that way.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

10. i concur...and it's a crime what bush has brought down on our once good

country....nothing but nightmares and hell since he stole the election...and i expected it all to spiral maddingly downward when he did...too tooo sad