Short answer: no.
Long answer by Eric Williams:
He's the Decider, and he's already decided how he's going to decide.
Never mind what the Iraq Study Group advises. Or what the National Intelligence Estimate says. Or what suggestions Chuck Hagel might have. And certainly don't listen to anything a Democrat might propose.
His refusal to consider -- or often even acknowledge -- ideas other than those to which he so stubbornly clings was vividly demonstrated earlier in the press conference when he said in regard to Iraq:
"I considered several options -- one, doing nothing, and that if you don't believe the situation was acceptable, then you should do something."
I'm not sure I've heard anyone offer the "Let's do nothing" plan (although I believe that was the official motto of the last session of Congress). With Bush, it's not "My way or the highway," because to him, there IS no highway.
4 comments:
What do you think we should do? Is the idea of allowing them to kill each other off a good idea to you? If it is then we should leave right now. That way the people with the guns can kill those that don't believe the way they do. Then they can start working on the rest of the world from there. We have been working on not killing people because of race, religion, and sex for decades and we still don't have it totally right. So it will take them a lot of time to get it right to. You tell me do we do it right, like we did in Europe after World War Two? Or do we do it wrong, like we did in Europe after World War One? You do know the reason there was a second world war was because we left Europe after the government of Germany was over thrown in the first one. Then left the country to its own demise. So you tell me what is the best course of action. Remember running away always means that someone else will have to go in and do the job you didn't.
One of the first things to do is make the government tell the truth on why we are in Iraq in the first place. As with any fight, you go back to the reasons for it to fix it.
Many people snort derisively and demand we ignore that and just focus on the mess we have right now. We've been doing that for 4 years and it hasn't worked, even with several do-overs.
You said: 'Is the idea of allowing them to kill each other off a good idea to you?' No. People all over the world marched in the millions to protest the start of this war. We are in this quagmire now. So nothing is a 'good idea.' People are going to die horribly either way, us leaving or staying will not make any difference. We are in the middle of about twenty different wars. Nothing is clear, nothing is simple. And we started it.
Is staying to you the good 'WWII' way? In stopping the killing? In stopping the religious Shia/Sunni war? We do not have enough soldiers. You want to start a draft? That is the ONLY way we will achieve military strength. Then you will have to declare why we are at war. Why ARE we there in Iraq?
So:
1) VERY first thing: Prevent the Bush administration from attacking Iran. They will try and use a nuke on Iran. This is one of the PNAC's declared desires: to remove the taboo of using nuclear weapons because it will make fighting wars so much easier.
2) Have the Bush administration say why we are there. Don't give us Bush who will yammer on without saying anything. Don't give us any of the PNAC neocons who will yammer on without saying anything. Give us some low level government staffer who sees the secrets pass over his desk. Ask him. Offer witness protection and lots of money...
3) Declare to the world we have effed up badly, we deeply apologize to them for the last six years and would they help please? Re-hire the 60 plus diplomats who quit in disgust or resigned in despair. Send them to the far corners of the world. Start talking. Impeachment of the president, vp, and his cabinet wouldn't hurt at this point. It would show the world we are serious.
4) Start seriously talking to Syria and Iran, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Jordan, all those connected by land and religion to the Iraq debacle.
5) Redeploy our troops. Get them to safety as fast as possible. Murtha has given us pointers on how to detach ourselves without having a Vietnam helicopter on the roof moment.
6) Find homes for the Iraqi refugees who number in the millions. These will either be our friends or our future terrorists. How they are treated matters.
All these steps would happen similtaneously. And this would be just a start. This mess we have started will ripple outwards for decades. We haven't yet begun to pay for this blunder.
I haven't even addressed Afghanistan which is having its own meltdown. Why on earth didn't we do Afghanistan properly first? Why DID we attack Iraq?
And don't give me the WMDs excuse. If I could see through it, anybody could see through it. When Bush became president, I bet my friends that in two years we would be attacking Iraq. And this was before 9/11 gave them the trifecta.
"... someone else will have to go in and do the job you didn't." - shawn
You mean... the job YOU didn't. shawn, are you in a U.S. Army uniform in Iraq? If not, why not? You certainly have strong feelings on the matter. Remember, age, prior service, and even a criminal record are no longer an excuse: if you think the U.S. should be fighting in Iraq, you should be there, indeed, you COULD be there, this very minute, doing the very fighting you advocate. Don't wait to comment on another blog: go down to the recruiter's office and enlist now. That's NOW, N-O-W. Or do you, like Mr. Cheney, have "other priorities"? Right. That's what I thought.
As to what I think we should do... you did ask, remember... I think we should impeach this mad preznit and his mad veep, and bring our troops home as soon as is reasonably possible. That would not be enough to stop the insanity, and it would not recover any of the respect America has lost in the world, but it would be a start.
Thanks Steve. Nicely said. And as always, to the point.
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