BernieHund: The Political Watchdog

Secretary of Defense Gates and General Petraeus have concluded that the surge is working, but after the troops sent in to squash the insurgance are removed, the remaining troops will stay.  The draw down of troops will be “paused” to give us time to evaluate the situation.

Voice of America reported

U.S. Defense Secretary Gates said today in Baghdad that Iraq’s security situation remains “fragile”. He says he favors a “pause” in U.S. troop withdrawals from Iraq once initial pullouts are completed in July.

Gates was speaking after meeting the top U.S. commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus. Gates says a “brief period of consolidation and evaluation” to assess the impact of the initial pullouts “would make sense.”

Most of the additional “surge” forces that President Bush ordered to Iraq last year are due to leave by July. U.S. officials must decide what to do after that.

What exactly does that mean?  From where I sit, it seems to me that incidents in Iraq were getting out of hand as the insurgance increased the daily bombings and the death toll rose for Iraqi citizens and U.S. soldiers.  The American surge in troops was supposed to give the Iraqi government time to “reconcile”, to bring the country together, to get the government into a working state rather than the total disarray in which it seems to flounder. 

What has happened since the surge began?  The incidents of violence have decreased… back to the level they were in 2004.  There has been no noticeable change in governmental policies in Iraq.  If there are any diplomatic initiatives being advanced by the United States, they are going without notice and obviously without effect.

The present administration seems to readily engage in war and unable to get any diplomatic energy flowing.  Condelezza Rice as Secretary of State has faded into the background.  As National Security director, her face was seen almost weekly on the Sunday morning political interview shows defending our positions before the nation.  As Secretary of State she has totally slipped behind the curtains.  In fact, her influence has waned to the level of Colin Powell’s when he departed the Cabinet.  Maybe, it’s time for her to depart. 

The Bush administration has only advanced war.  There is not a shred of evidence that indicates diplomacy as a part of the plan to resolove the issues in Iraq or the Middle East.  Whenever there is a slight rise in tension, Bush and Cheney continue to make threats of expanding war. 

And, so it seems that if democracy and peace are the goals in Iraq, the present administration has become caught up in its tunnel vision of controlling Iraq and recreating it in the image of George Bush’s imagination.  The War in Iraq has served its purpose.  President Bush and Dick have captured, convicted and killed Saddam Hussein.  They have successfully focused our country’s attention on delivering democracy to Iraq while distracting us as they have piloted the mission of spying on Americans by using warrantless wiretapping.  The administration has sent bundles (literally) of money to Iraq while ignoring domestic needs.  The administration has sacrificed the lives of young Americans in a war that had no meaning when it began and has no end in sight. 

And the final evaluation is simple.  Iraqi violence is back to where it was in 2004.  When our surge troops are brought home in July, we will find that they served as a band-aid for a period of time and that the Iraqi government has made absolutely no progress.  We are now five years into the battle.  We have removed Saddam.  We have found no weapons of mass destruction.  We have killed over 150,000 Iraqi citizens and insurgents, either through intent or collateral damage.  Some estimates soar to unbelievable numbers, but they count is uncertain.  We have sacrificed nearly 4000 American troops.  Almost 30,000 troops have been wounded (the seriousness of the wounds is not on record). 

As the battles continue and the diplomacy is non-existent, I am reminded that fighting for peace is like f&*%ing for chastity.  It’s counter productive.  But, then again… peace isn’t the objective, is it?