Stand-up stand-down all over again
By Creature
I've seen this movie before, and it didn't end well the first time.
It's not the speed at which Iraqi troops are trained, and it's not the number of Iraqi troops (if I'm not mistaken there are plenty of them to go around), it's the fact that when the bullets start to fly they choose not to fight. The reality which the Bush administration fails to admit is that there is an Iraqi army on the ground. An army that is well trained (and well funded). An army that has proven there willingness to fight. An army as brutal as any Republican Guard. It's Moqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army militia and this is the army that will eventually come to rule Iraq. The only question that remains is how long will the Bush administration waste American lives and resources before succumbing to the reality before them? I'm betting at least two more years, but otherwise it's a rhetorical question.
(Cross-posted at State of the Day.)
I've seen this movie before, and it didn't end well the first time.
President Bush will ask the embattled Iraqi prime minister for ideas on how to train Iraqi forces faster so they can shoulder more responsibility for securing the nation as a top White House adviser has doubts that Nouri al-Maliki will be able to halt escalating sectarian violence. [emphasis me]
It's not the speed at which Iraqi troops are trained, and it's not the number of Iraqi troops (if I'm not mistaken there are plenty of them to go around), it's the fact that when the bullets start to fly they choose not to fight. The reality which the Bush administration fails to admit is that there is an Iraqi army on the ground. An army that is well trained (and well funded). An army that has proven there willingness to fight. An army as brutal as any Republican Guard. It's Moqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army militia and this is the army that will eventually come to rule Iraq. The only question that remains is how long will the Bush administration waste American lives and resources before succumbing to the reality before them? I'm betting at least two more years, but otherwise it's a rhetorical question.
(Cross-posted at State of the Day.)
posted by creature at
7:46 AM
1 Comments:
I saw that movie - its title was Viet Nam. The idea was to get out of there by a process of "Vietnamization" of the war: teaching them to stand up so we could stand down.
Worked really well too.
At least the Viet Cong mellowed into a government that is moving toward an open market economy and a little bit of freedom, but I can't see that happening with the Mehdi boys.
By
Capt. Fogg, at 10:56 AM
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