Larry C. Johnson: Why We Must Leave Iraq.

[reprehensor]

Larry C. Johnson: Why We Must Leave Iraq.

Sometimes in life there are no good options. It is part of our nature to always assume that we can fix a problem. But in life there are many problems or situations where there is no pleasant solution. If you were at the Windows on the World Restaurant in the North Tower of the World Trade Center at 9 am on September 11, 2001 you had no good options. You could choose to jump or to burn to death. Some choice.

A hard, clear-eyed look at the current situation in Iraq reveals that we are confronted with equally bad choices. If we stay we are facilitating the creation of an Islamic state that will be a client of Iran. If we pull out we are likely to leave the various ethnic groups of Iraq to escalate the civil war already underway. In my judgment we have no alternative but to pull our forces out of Iraq. Like it or not, such a move will be viewed as a defeat of the United States and will create some very serious foreign policy and security problems for us for years to come. However, we are unwilling to make the sacrifices required to achieve something approximating victory. And, what would victory look like? At a minimum we should expect a secular society where the average Iraqi can move around the country without fear of being killed or kidnapped. That is not the case nor is it on the horizon.

We may even be past the point of no return where we could impose changes that would put Iraq back on course to be a secular, democratic nation without sparking a major Shiite counteroffensive. Therefore the time has come to minimize further unnecessary loss of life by our troops and re-craft a new foreign and security policy for the Middle East.

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The continued presence of US combat forces and our operations against Iraqi civilians is recruiting new jihadists from around the Muslim world. Notwithstanding US efforts to win the "hearts and minds" of the Iraqi people, the sectarian strife and the images of US soldiers kicking in the doors of peoples' homes while searching for insurgents is creating more anger rather than support.

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[Garbo 2004]

1. kick n/t

[Soup Bean]

2. What a sad situation.

It's no win, except for the war profiteers. I wonder what will happen to the oil fields if we leave? What about those 14 Sacramento-sized military bases that cost Billion$ of US dollars to build? Do we leave troops there, sort of like giant gas station attendants?

What do we do?

[reprehensor]

3. Switch to alternative fuel sources...

Quit fucking around in the Middle East and just defend our shores.

Isolationist? Maybe.

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"The true America goes not abroad in search of monsters to destroy... She well knows that by once enlisting under other banners than her own, were they even the banners of foreign independence, she would involve herself, beyond the powers of extrication, in all the wars of interest and intrigue, of individual avarice, envy and ambition which assume the colours and usurp the standards of freedom...

She might become the dictatress of the world; she would no longer be the ruler of her own spirit."

- John Quincy Adams, 4th July, 1821.

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All I know is that the present course of Empire is a Neocon nightmare.

[Soup Bean]

4. I'm starting to agree with Pat Buchanan on some issues.

Pretty scary. Not social issues, but I've read "A Republic, not an Empire" and I swear, I agree with him.

[reprehensor]

5. Also look up...

"Whose War" and also at amconmag, the interview with Norman Mailer, "I Am Not For Empire"

It's time to roll back the Empire, and I too agree with his 'small r' republican stance, as I agree with Gore Vidal.

Bear in mind, beyond his acuity at stripping away the veneer of the Bush agenda, he has virtually no value to 'progressives'.

Secretly, I suspect he would 'final solution' the lot of us.

Thom Hartmann is pretty much convinced that he is a plain old anti-semite. So that sucks.

[Soup Bean]

6. Yes, read him with caution.

I'm really not sure about the anti-semitism charge, as it seems to be leveled against everyone today. That's the perils of over-use of a term. However, I do not know the man, and anything is possible. I abhor groupthink and I never characterize anyone based on race, or even political affiliation.

I do think Buchanan is interesting and relevant simply because he doesn't just spew talking points. A real discussion is desperately needed in this country, and I'm hungry for such information.

Thank God for the Internet, and thanks to Al Gore for sponsoring it's release to the world.