JOSEPH L. GALLOWAY: After Iraq elections, U.S. should pull out

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.freep.com/voices/columnists/egalloway10e_20050110.htm

JOSEPH L. GALLOWAY is the senior military correspondent for Knight Ridder Newspapers. Write to him at Knight Ridder Washington Bureau, 700 National Press Bldg., Washington, DC 20045.

There may be 50 ways to leave your lover, but there may be only one good way out of the deepening disaster that is Iraq: Hold the elections on Jan. 30, declare victory and begin leaving.

Anything less, any more "staying the course," and we're likely doomed to an even bloodier and more costly defeat in a country divided along ethnic and religious fault lines and headed toward civil war.

A large number of Americans, perhaps even a majority, believe that pulling out now would lead to an American defeat that undermines U.S. credibility and endangers the global war on terrorism. They worry it would create either an Afghan-style terrorist haven in Iraq or an anti-American Shiite regime that would only be a new source of instability in the Mideast, a region vital to American interests.

The problem is that there is no way we can win -- defeat the insurgents and install a stable, democratic, friendly government -- and bad things are going to happen anyway. There is no way Americans are willing to pay the price even of stalemate, never mind an unattainable victory.

That would mean half a million American soldiers on the ground, maybe more, and a new draft to find enough people for the force. It would mean an escalating drain of hundreds of billions more dollars, and a bloodbath on both sides.

Why can't we win? Because we charged in with false premises and bogus assumptions. Because for every insurgent we kill, two or three more join the cause. Because even our advertised victories -- like Fallujah, where we apparently had to destroy the city in order to save it, or Samarra or Ramadi -- only turned the entire Sunni population against the United States and its Iraqi allies.

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[dweller]

1. but what about

the OIL ?

They went in for it, and will not be leaving without it.

dp

[noamnety]

2. yes, but what about

Jeb?

The war has lost its support, they need to pull out well before Jeb runs.

[Inland]

3. The current admin can't bring success, only failure

That's the distinction between the Friedmans and the Brooks saying that there is a possibility of a chance for the better in theory and the actual possibilities given the current administration.

Friedman and Brooks pretend that a chance for success is like a chance on a roll of a dice, in which any outcome could occur with a certain probability. But government and wars aren't rolls of the dice; you make our own luck, as they say in sports. Without a good plan and good execution, the game is lost.

Looking at those in charge of the plan and the execution, the only possible conclusion is that there is no chance for the US to make it better.

Kerry might have been able to bring some sort of success out of the disaster. Clinton might have been able to do it. Bush I, yeah. Maybe even Reagan.

But Bush II is the most incompetent, craven, lying crew in office in modern times. That should be obvious to Americans, and it sure is obvious to Iraqis who get a close up view of a destroyed Fallujah or have personal knowledge of dead relatives, lack of security, power outages, and fear.

The greatest contribution that America can make to Iraq is getting Bush and his minions as far away from it as possible. We could have done that by electing Kerry, and we didn't, and that's too bad for Iraq. The only possible act now is to vote NO CONFIDENCE in this Administration. No money. No authorization. Time to cut the losses for us AND Iraq.

[wildwww2]

4. The PNAC crowd is not even listening to this "moran" Galloway.

Any writer who calls our foes insurgents does not get it. They are freedom fighters. They want to be free from the invaders. Which is Bu$h Inc. and our troops under their command. Someone needs to tell this asshole. That we can`t win because we have no right to be fighting there in the first place. Our military is to protect us and our country. Not to take over other country`s who`s oil our corporate controlled government wants.
Peace
Wildman
Al Gore is My President