Parallels
Ask any member of the Bushite al Qaeda, and they'll tell you that our current military adventure in Iraq is "just like World War Two," or will draw some parallel (no matter by what circuitous logic) to either Vietnam (where we won - didn't we?) or to the movie 300.
So much for that.
A former General in the British Army, General Sir Michael Rose, has written a book that draws a different parallel - he's drawn a parallel between the actions of the insurgents and the American War of Independence. The BBC put out the article on it.
Here's a few bits of the article:
"Gen Sir Michael Rose also told the BBC's Newsnight programme that the US and the UK must 'admit defeat' and stop fighting 'a hopeless war' in Iraq. Iraqi insurgents would not give in, he said. 'I don't excuse them for some of the terrible things they do, but I do understand why they are resisting.'"
"This meant the UK government would have to admit defeat, he added. 'The British admitted defeat in North America and the catastrophes that were predicted at the time never happened,' the ex-Bosnia UN chief said. 'The catastrophes that were predicted after Vietnam never happened. The same thing will occur after we leave Iraq.'"
Very heady stuff, dontcha think? Naturally the Bushies will go ballistic about this, especially if some snide fellow happens to throw Reagan's famous quote about a terrorist being a freedom fighter (it all depends on your point of view, after all).
Yesterday a cavalcade of "experts" paraded up and down Slave Media Street warning everyone of the terrible things that Would Definitely Happen if we just pulled up stakes and left Iraq. But how do they know this for certain? Do they have some kind of revelation given to them from Jeanne Dixon, or maybe Nostradamus? Perhaps an overly dressed guy with an English accent stepped out of a phone box and told them?
What I think will happen is this - we leave, and the foreign fighters will go, either willingly or forcibly, leaving the Sunni, Shia and Kurds to settle their differences. Things will get bloody, but haven't they gotten bloody already? Eventually things will shake down into a new order in Iraq, and things will quiet down a bit.
Until the next US President decides a hornet's nest is the best thing on the planet to whack with a stick.
So much for that.
A former General in the British Army, General Sir Michael Rose, has written a book that draws a different parallel - he's drawn a parallel between the actions of the insurgents and the American War of Independence. The BBC put out the article on it.
Here's a few bits of the article:
"Gen Sir Michael Rose also told the BBC's Newsnight programme that the US and the UK must 'admit defeat' and stop fighting 'a hopeless war' in Iraq. Iraqi insurgents would not give in, he said. 'I don't excuse them for some of the terrible things they do, but I do understand why they are resisting.'"
"This meant the UK government would have to admit defeat, he added. 'The British admitted defeat in North America and the catastrophes that were predicted at the time never happened,' the ex-Bosnia UN chief said. 'The catastrophes that were predicted after Vietnam never happened. The same thing will occur after we leave Iraq.'"
***
Very heady stuff, dontcha think? Naturally the Bushies will go ballistic about this, especially if some snide fellow happens to throw Reagan's famous quote about a terrorist being a freedom fighter (it all depends on your point of view, after all).
Yesterday a cavalcade of "experts" paraded up and down Slave Media Street warning everyone of the terrible things that Would Definitely Happen if we just pulled up stakes and left Iraq. But how do they know this for certain? Do they have some kind of revelation given to them from Jeanne Dixon, or maybe Nostradamus? Perhaps an overly dressed guy with an English accent stepped out of a phone box and told them?
What I think will happen is this - we leave, and the foreign fighters will go, either willingly or forcibly, leaving the Sunni, Shia and Kurds to settle their differences. Things will get bloody, but haven't they gotten bloody already? Eventually things will shake down into a new order in Iraq, and things will quiet down a bit.
Until the next US President decides a hornet's nest is the best thing on the planet to whack with a stick.
posted by Walt at 8:05 AM
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