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Hope is Still the Plan

Newsweek's Michael Hirsh is trying to figure out what the Bush administration is planning to do about Iraq. Best of luck to him. I gave up this game long ago, mainly because the administration doesn't even seem to have a plan, apart from muddling through and perpetually hoping that in six months time, things will get magically better. And that still seems to be the case:

So the very best that can be hoped for in Iraq, probably for many years to come, will be a non-bloodbath, a low-level civil war that doesn’t get worse than the current cycle of insurgent killings and Shiite death-squad reprisals. This is bad, but it could be much worse. Containment, says one Army officer involved in training in Iraq, is at least "doable." He adds: "The only real question is: How do we keep Iraq from becoming a permissive environment for terrorists."
People will keep killing each other, sure, but at least it won't be some unspecified really large number of people killing each other. That's the plan. Although there still seem to be some technical problems:
The U.S. military is already gearing up for this outcome, but not for "victory" any longer. It is consolidating to several "superbases" in hopes that its continued presence will prevent Iraq from succumbing to full-flown civil war and turning into a failed state. Pentagon strategists admit they have not figured out how to move to superbases, as a way of reducing the pressure—and casualties—inflicted on the U.S. Army, while at the same time remaining embedded with Iraqi police and military units. It is a circle no one has squared.
Er, perhaps that's because it can't be done? It seems awfully hard for the military to stay out of the way and avoiding getting its soldiers killed and continue trying to influence events on the ground in Iraq. Pentagon strategists seem to agree. Really, no one seems to know what to do anymore. On the bright side, Ralph Peters says that this year more Americans will die in highway accidents than get killed in Iraq so I guess we can all clap our hands now...

Posted by Bradford Plumer on 05/23/06 at 12:14 PM | E-mail | Print | Digg | de.licio.us | Reddit | Newsvine | Yahoo! MyWeb | StumbleUpon | Netscape | Google |



Comments

Iraq is really a failure ?

Who says things are not just as Bushco would have them : Iraq oil is effectively off the market creating immense wealth for oil interest , defense contractor are so elated , they make pigs in slop look suicidal and Iraqi's will be at each other's throats for forever - classic divide and conquer in full bloom .

Posted by: G on 05/23/06 at 3:08 PM

Shortly after the occupation of Baghdad by British Forces on March 19, 1917, Lieut. General Sir Stanley Maude stated, "O people of Baghdad remember that for 26 generations you have suffered under strange tyrants who have ever endeavored to set one Arab house against another in order that they might profit by your dissensions."
I shudder to think that American tyrants are behind the dreadful instances of violence that plague Iraq, but, of course, it makes less sense that religious factions are responsible for such heinous acts, "Fight in the cause of Allah those who fight you, but do not do aggression. Whoever joins himself in a good cause shall have a share of it, and whoever joins himself in an evil cause shall have the responsibility of it. Truth stands out clear from error; whoever rejects evil and believes in Allah hath grasped the most trustworthy handhold."
So sad to think that our good men in arms are actually the lackey knaves of the evil Bush administration.
Remember, "Be not overcome by evil, overcome evil with good" (Christianity), and "One should never return wrong for wrong, but should act honestly by those that have wronged him. By doing what is sinful, one only imitates them that are wicked and sinful" (Hinduism).

Posted by: Michael L. Wagner on 05/24/06 at 10:48 AM

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