Fly on Iraq
It's Friday night at Zoo Station, and although I have to work tomorrow, I have an evening to myself. I plan to get some reading done, hopefully two chapters, to make up for the two chapters I missed out on reading over the last couple of days due to my work schedule and due to incessant telephone calls from various individuals. First, though, there are a few things worth noting.
There have been a lot of news stories that I've wanted to post about lately; in fact, I'm considering the option of doing a weekly international security review. At any rate, I may or may not get a news review put together tonight, but I wanted to address today's comment by Father Time.
I haven't been "ducking" the Iraq Study Group's report; I've honestly been too busy to comment. Although long-time readers of this blog will know what my feelings on the subject are, I may as well post them. Not surprisingly, I think that the "results" of what should really be called the Iraq Surrender Group are ridiculous. The situation in Iraq is horrible, and there seems to be no end in sight. Claiming that the situation is beyond recovery is not the solution. Claiming that we should be seeking help and assistance from Iran and Syria is not the solution. Claiming that there is no longer a viable military solution, as Dr. Kissinger did, is not the solution. Claiming that the situation in Iraq is worse than a civil war, as Kofi Annan did, is not a solution. The Iraq Study Group is just like the 9/11 Commission: worthless political chicanery, attempting unsuccessfully to masquerade as legitimate policy analysis. In fact, high-ranking Iraqi leaders are saying so, calling the group's report "unrealistic and inappropriate".
There is no question that I'm in favor of applying new strategies if they'll help improve the situation. Strategies must change as the situation changes, and we can not employ the same strategy that we used in 2003, or 2004, or 2005 as we prepare to enter 2007. New solutions and approaches are appropriate as new challenges emerge. That having been said, Iraq is not the quagmire that Democrats and anti-Bush lunatics have been declaring it since 2003. There are a lot of bad things happening in Iraq; but there are also a lot of good things happening in Iraq (read about one here) that are getting little or no news coverage at all. The Iraqi Army and the Iraqi Police are slowly rising to the challenges before them. Iraqi elections, legitimate ones in which the citizens finally have an authentic say in the political process, have a higher percentage of voters than American elections do. The Iraqi government now has diplomatic relations with former enemies, like Iran, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia. People are ready, willing, and able to criticize President Bush, erroneously chant party lines about "no weapons of mass destruction" or "no ties to terrorism", ad malign our courageous military personnel. What about these victories, and the slow but tangible progress being made in the conflict?
The bottom line for me is that the Iraq Study Group is little more than a political circus act aimed at criticizing proactive (and somewhat successful, although flawed) policies aimed at killing a legitimate and horrible threat to America's national security. It accomplishes nothing, and its recommendations are not only ignorant, but amount to nothing less than the same surrender-with-dignity policy that cost us a decisive win in Vietnam.
In the near future, I intend not only to post continuing news updates (I'm still trying to catch up from the deployment back-log), but also some targeted posts on Afghanistan, Japan and Germany, NATO, and a long-awaited post on North Korea that I promised to chickenhawk months ago... But as you can probably imagine, they may take me a while.
There have been a lot of news stories that I've wanted to post about lately; in fact, I'm considering the option of doing a weekly international security review. At any rate, I may or may not get a news review put together tonight, but I wanted to address today's comment by Father Time.
Is The Fly ducking the Iraq Study Group report?
Hmmm!
I haven't been "ducking" the Iraq Study Group's report; I've honestly been too busy to comment. Although long-time readers of this blog will know what my feelings on the subject are, I may as well post them. Not surprisingly, I think that the "results" of what should really be called the Iraq Surrender Group are ridiculous. The situation in Iraq is horrible, and there seems to be no end in sight. Claiming that the situation is beyond recovery is not the solution. Claiming that we should be seeking help and assistance from Iran and Syria is not the solution. Claiming that there is no longer a viable military solution, as Dr. Kissinger did, is not the solution. Claiming that the situation in Iraq is worse than a civil war, as Kofi Annan did, is not a solution. The Iraq Study Group is just like the 9/11 Commission: worthless political chicanery, attempting unsuccessfully to masquerade as legitimate policy analysis. In fact, high-ranking Iraqi leaders are saying so, calling the group's report "unrealistic and inappropriate".
There is no question that I'm in favor of applying new strategies if they'll help improve the situation. Strategies must change as the situation changes, and we can not employ the same strategy that we used in 2003, or 2004, or 2005 as we prepare to enter 2007. New solutions and approaches are appropriate as new challenges emerge. That having been said, Iraq is not the quagmire that Democrats and anti-Bush lunatics have been declaring it since 2003. There are a lot of bad things happening in Iraq; but there are also a lot of good things happening in Iraq (read about one here) that are getting little or no news coverage at all. The Iraqi Army and the Iraqi Police are slowly rising to the challenges before them. Iraqi elections, legitimate ones in which the citizens finally have an authentic say in the political process, have a higher percentage of voters than American elections do. The Iraqi government now has diplomatic relations with former enemies, like Iran, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia. People are ready, willing, and able to criticize President Bush, erroneously chant party lines about "no weapons of mass destruction" or "no ties to terrorism", ad malign our courageous military personnel. What about these victories, and the slow but tangible progress being made in the conflict?
The bottom line for me is that the Iraq Study Group is little more than a political circus act aimed at criticizing proactive (and somewhat successful, although flawed) policies aimed at killing a legitimate and horrible threat to America's national security. It accomplishes nothing, and its recommendations are not only ignorant, but amount to nothing less than the same surrender-with-dignity policy that cost us a decisive win in Vietnam.
In the near future, I intend not only to post continuing news updates (I'm still trying to catch up from the deployment back-log), but also some targeted posts on Afghanistan, Japan and Germany, NATO, and a long-awaited post on North Korea that I promised to chickenhawk months ago... But as you can probably imagine, they may take me a while.
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