All Factions Want Us Out
The clashing Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish factions in Iraq have managed to agree on at least one thing. They have called for a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. forces from their country.
At an Arab League sponsored conference in Cairo, all three groups signed a statement that "demands a withdrawal of foreign troops on a specified timetable, dependent on an immediate national program for rebuilding the security forces."
The U.S. has for the duration of the war complained about the presence of "foreign fighters" who have been causing problems for our troops in their mission to bring democracy to Iraq. It is clear by their Cairo declaration who the Iraqi leaders view to be the most troublesome foreign element in the conflict.
The Iraqi leaders endorsed a general right of the people to resist foreign occupation, while at the same time condemning terrorism. This semantic feat was clearly an effort to get a final declaration that was acceptable to all parties. The fact that all parties could come to some kind of an understanding with each other seems to be an optimistic development. The communique sees the end of 2006 (not 2008 or 09 as viewed by Washington) as being a manageable final exit date.
The clearheadedness of the Iraqi factional leaders is contrasted by a bizarre letter to the editor printed in today's Washington Post.
The author is retired Gen. P.X. Kelley (USMC) who knows better than the Iraqis themselves what's best for their country. A former Commandant of the Corps, Kelley blasts the idea of setting a timetable for withdrawal. He goes so far as to blame the U.S. Congress' then-required War Powers Act hearings during Reagan's early 1980's incursion into Lebanon for motivating the attack on the USMC barracks that took the lives of 241 Marines.
This fucking kook cant strategically conceptualize the fact that Marines as well as soldiers are losing their lives daily in the shithole we have created in Iraq. How many more does he think we should sacrifice? When U.S. forces are gone from Iraq, they will no longer be sitting ducks like Kelley's Marines were in Lebanon in 1983.
Kelley cloaks his warning in a markedly not well-briefed confabulation of Osama Bin Laden and Iraq. That approach must still work somewhere, I presume.
Kelley's defense of projecting the American military to do the dirty work of the kleptocracy that rules this country is to be expected. The Marines have been, of course, the ambassadors of choice of the U.S. fruit companies, oil interests, and Wall Street since the early 1900's.
To borrow Kelley's closing words, "Lest We Forget!"
At an Arab League sponsored conference in Cairo, all three groups signed a statement that "demands a withdrawal of foreign troops on a specified timetable, dependent on an immediate national program for rebuilding the security forces."
The U.S. has for the duration of the war complained about the presence of "foreign fighters" who have been causing problems for our troops in their mission to bring democracy to Iraq. It is clear by their Cairo declaration who the Iraqi leaders view to be the most troublesome foreign element in the conflict.
The Iraqi leaders endorsed a general right of the people to resist foreign occupation, while at the same time condemning terrorism. This semantic feat was clearly an effort to get a final declaration that was acceptable to all parties. The fact that all parties could come to some kind of an understanding with each other seems to be an optimistic development. The communique sees the end of 2006 (not 2008 or 09 as viewed by Washington) as being a manageable final exit date.
The clearheadedness of the Iraqi factional leaders is contrasted by a bizarre letter to the editor printed in today's Washington Post.
The author is retired Gen. P.X. Kelley (USMC) who knows better than the Iraqis themselves what's best for their country. A former Commandant of the Corps, Kelley blasts the idea of setting a timetable for withdrawal. He goes so far as to blame the U.S. Congress' then-required War Powers Act hearings during Reagan's early 1980's incursion into Lebanon for motivating the attack on the USMC barracks that took the lives of 241 Marines.
This fucking kook cant strategically conceptualize the fact that Marines as well as soldiers are losing their lives daily in the shithole we have created in Iraq. How many more does he think we should sacrifice? When U.S. forces are gone from Iraq, they will no longer be sitting ducks like Kelley's Marines were in Lebanon in 1983.
Kelley cloaks his warning in a markedly not well-briefed confabulation of Osama Bin Laden and Iraq. That approach must still work somewhere, I presume.
Kelley's defense of projecting the American military to do the dirty work of the kleptocracy that rules this country is to be expected. The Marines have been, of course, the ambassadors of choice of the U.S. fruit companies, oil interests, and Wall Street since the early 1900's.
To borrow Kelley's closing words, "Lest We Forget!"
posted by Effwit at 11:48 AM
3 Comments:
I'm glad you've actually talked with Iraqis on the streets of Baghdad. You're so so brave. From the comfort of your home, you observe firsthand the complicated politics of a divided land.
Like most people in the United States, you believe everything you read in the newspaper and watch on TV.
PS
I clicked on several of your Google ads.
Peter:
Thanks for sharing.
P.S.
I returned the favor (ads).
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