The title of this blog basically sums up the President's speech. I could have predicted it would go something like that. Bush and his ilk have no incentive to speed up troop reduction. They know (or at least, they SHOULD know) that Iraq is not a country that can be built from the ground up in just a few years.
By liberating Iraq from Saddam, they have created a nation whose leadership will feel indebted to the United States for decades and beholden to make us their primary trading partner for their oil resources--provided they can stay in power. What's the end game here? In a country that had little to no al-Qaeda presence before the Iraq occupation created an inevitable power vacuum and chaos, it's always been about two things: securing another source of relatively cheap crude oil for American consumers and building a bulwark against the perceived (and exaggerated) threat of Iranian domination. These goals cannot be achieved by pulling out large numbers of troops in the forseeable future.
Can the Democrats, or a Democratic president, make the difference? In the short run, probably not. In the long run, it depends on which Democrat gets elected president or even if a Democrat can get elected--and how many fellow Donkeys they can bring into Congress on their electoral coattails. A Hillary Clinton presidency (much as I like a lot about her and what she would like to accomplish) probably wouldn't offer much in the way of a swift troop withdrawl. She is the consumate politician with too much of a need to prove her bonafides to a skeptical military establishment. Barack Obama and John Edwards would move more decisively to end the occupation, but may find that they lack the political capital and experience to win over the more Hawkish members of the Congress and make their plans come to fruition.
What does it all mean for John Q. Public? Vietnam all over again? No--we decisively won this war, but it is the occupation that is sapping our resources, hurting our global credibility and souring our national mood. And we'd better get used to it. Right now, George Bush holds the stick and there's no carrot in sight for our troops.
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Mad For Mad Men
Are you watching MAD MEN? If not, you're missing one of the best television shows of the year, a beautifully directed and acted reflection on early 1960s social and workplace mores. Of course, if that's all it was, it wouldn't be a great show. You've got a few weeks to check it out before the season finale. It's on AMC (the American Movie Channel) and you won't be disappointed.
Welcome to the Blogosphere oh Tuhina
My friend Tuhina, sister of the inimitable Dr. Z, has a blog. It's very good. Check it out and make her feel good:
http://traschey.blogspot.com/
Peace...
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