I have complete faith that the US military, along with the help our allies are providing, will wind up dislodging Saddam Hussein from power, hopefully sooner rather than later. When that happens, the aspirants to American empire who have sunk their claws into the current administration will no doubt crow about their general brilliance. Before it’s too late, let’s be sure to remember that they’re the same people who thought that no ground invasion was needed to overthrow Iraq’s government — that we could just send a few guns over and provide air support and the Iraqi opposition would take care of these things themselves. It was the military that demanded that the invasion be an all out effort involving lots of troops on the ground. Of all the things the Bush administration has gotten wrong, listening to the military on this one is one thing they got right.
It should be obvious to anyone following the news closely that the coalition forces are doing the best they can to preserve the lives of innocent civilians, even at the cost of casualties on our side. Obviously, too many innocents are still dying, but I shudder to think of how many civilians would have died had we started up a proxy war and let paramilitaries call in air strikes with abandon. War is brutal and awful, but I have a lot more confidence in the US and British militaries to maintain self control than I do a bunch of irregulars with no real military training and little or no accountability. Besides, had we gone the so-called “Afghan” route, or, if you prefer, the Bay of Pigs route, the insurrectionists would have been defeated, and the destruction of a civil war in Iraq would not even have effected the overthrow of Saddam Hussein.
My point here is that what the neocons wanted would have in all likelihood turned out to be the worst case scenario for the people of Iraq. As it is, things are awful, but there is some hope that once this is all said and done, things will be better for the Iraqis than they were before this war began. If the people who have so desperately wanted this war for years had gotten their way, that wouldn’t be the case.
Let’s remember
I have complete faith that the US military, along with the help our allies are providing, will wind up dislodging Saddam Hussein from power, hopefully sooner rather than later. When that happens, the aspirants to American empire who have sunk their claws into the current administration will no doubt crow about their general brilliance. Before it’s too late, let’s be sure to remember that they’re the same people who thought that no ground invasion was needed to overthrow Iraq’s government — that we could just send a few guns over and provide air support and the Iraqi opposition would take care of these things themselves. It was the military that demanded that the invasion be an all out effort involving lots of troops on the ground. Of all the things the Bush administration has gotten wrong, listening to the military on this one is one thing they got right.
It should be obvious to anyone following the news closely that the coalition forces are doing the best they can to preserve the lives of innocent civilians, even at the cost of casualties on our side. Obviously, too many innocents are still dying, but I shudder to think of how many civilians would have died had we started up a proxy war and let paramilitaries call in air strikes with abandon. War is brutal and awful, but I have a lot more confidence in the US and British militaries to maintain self control than I do a bunch of irregulars with no real military training and little or no accountability. Besides, had we gone the so-called “Afghan” route, or, if you prefer, the Bay of Pigs route, the insurrectionists would have been defeated, and the destruction of a civil war in Iraq would not even have effected the overthrow of Saddam Hussein.
My point here is that what the neocons wanted would have in all likelihood turned out to be the worst case scenario for the people of Iraq. As it is, things are awful, but there is some hope that once this is all said and done, things will be better for the Iraqis than they were before this war began. If the people who have so desperately wanted this war for years had gotten their way, that wouldn’t be the case.
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Get real