Sunday, May 03, 2009

I want to quote two things from a Times article

on the situation in Iraq. Best to read it all, but these two just stand out.

First:
Colonel Andrew Bacevich, a military historian who lost his son in Iraq, said the rise in casualties threatened Obama’s withdrawal plans. The US military, including General Jim Jones, Obama’s national security adviser, wanted troops to leave the country “in a condition in which they can plausibly claim to have achieved success”, he said.
Isn't that nice. Isn't that just freakin' WONDERFUL?!? "...plausibly claim to have achieved success". They kicked the shit out of the bad guys, have built schools and hospitals and trained and a whole damn pile of other things, and it's reduced to Obama & Co. wanting to yank them out when they can 'plausibly claim success'. Translation: "I want to pull them all out as fast as I can to make my supporters happy, but I don't want to be blamed for what happens after; so do something so I can plausibly claim success so it'll take the heat off." Miserable two-faced bastards.

Second:
The Iraqi security forces were not yet ready to assume control, he said, even if the US was worried about the cost of the war. “I think American forces will have to stay here much longer. It will be shameful if the Americans leave us sinking in blood, simply to escape their economic crisis.”
Hey, the Obama administration, with Barney Frank and other pushing hard, want to chop the defense budget to pieces to pay off supporters and buy future votes; what's a bunch of dead Iraqis to them if they can keep their fat asses in office? The Evil Party betrayed the South Vietnamese and left them to drown in blood; what makes you special to them?

2 comments:

Daniel Newby said...

"plausibly claim to have achieved success"

I agree with them 1000% on this, despite the unfortunate phrasing. The departure from Baghdad must not even appear to be like the fall of Saigon. Especially Congress must not hang the soon-to-be-post-occupation government out to dry.

Windy Wilson said...

"they kicked the shit out of the bad guys, have built schools and hospitals and trained and a whole damn pile of other things, and it's reduced to Obama & Co. wanting to yank them out when they can 'plausibly claim success'."

But those things couldn't possibly be considered successful, after all the place was a quagmire from the very first hour of the very first day and America is lucky to get out with a plausible claim to success, since we all know it's a matter of time until things all go to hell anyway, so we might as well be gone when it happens.
[/obama]