Feb 24th, 2006, 10:03 AM
Kev; It's very hard for me to concentrate on what yur argument is, as I have suddenly and unnexpectedly contrcated Herpes. Ironically, I had no advance plan for dealing with it and even now that I have the disease, I can't see the point in investigating it's typical progression. I guess I'll just react to each sympton as it occurs.
"As I said earlier, we are in fact th only glue keping this thing together."
You have no way of knowing this. I bet the Soviet Union thought they were the glue holding Afghanistan together. Who knows, maybe they were, the Taliban didn't take over until they left. If we have to be glue, couldn't we go be glue in Darfur, where we claim there's a genocide going on but there's nothing we can do? Plus, you accuse me of being paternalistic about the middle east. You just stated the they are one hundred percent incapable of finding a way through this and only with our help will they. The same arguments were made in Vietnam, and amazingly when we pulled out, the world did not topple domino-esque into communism.
While I wouldn't want you to accuse me of being pro Saddam, I have to say that toppling a dictator is only meaningful if it brings about improvement. When Hitler was defeated, conditions slowly but surely improved throughout Eastern Europe. And Hiter was an agressive, uncontained world conquerer as opposd to Sadaam who was an evil shit who was unfortunate enough to be the weakest evil shit around when we felt like we needed a war.
I may well jump on any tipping point. You put your fingers in your ears, squinch your eyes real tight and sing a song about how we have to stay no matter what. We have no strategy, no plan, by any rubric you care to use it's a shit storm. I'm not looking for a time machine, I'm not even looking for the US leaving because while I want that (and think we eventually will leaving the mission unaccomplished) I don't see anyone winning an election based on that right now.
Here's my prediction of what's coming, what W's current stratgey is, even though he won't say it. We intend to build, in fact are already building, that's public record, giant highly fortified fortresses within Iraq. We will withdraw our soldiers to them and put our air power at the disposal of the Shiites, while denying their even IS a civil war, and bomb the shit out of whatever they point us at. And while I do think dropping cluster bombs and white phosphorus on entire buildings full of people if we think there's at least someone we need to kill inside is more civilzed than kidnapping and beheading journalists, I'm not sure we should be overly proud of the actual degree of difference.
Sure I'm looking for the tipping point. Is that worse than solidly refusing to consider there could ever be one? If we get to the point where half Iraqs population is dead do we go home then or stick around until the place is empty?
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