IRAQ: Make Yourself Comfortable
30 January 2007 8:22 am by Taylor Marsh
IRAQ: Make Yourself Comfortable
Before we can talk about this, there\’s this, but then there\’s also the most recent Iraqi troops collapse. So many screw ups, so little time. So how \’bout a game of circular insanity? Evidently, we\’re all game.
Watching Senators Cornyn and Kyl blather on about the non-binding resolutions
both sides of the political aisle want to vote on as a message to Mr. Bush this morning on C-SPAN,
I can\’t help but think we\’re watching the burning equivalent of modern day Rome.
It\’s truly pathetic. Cornyn couldn\’t wait to get to 9/11 in his stand up ruminations.
As for Kyl, he raised the \”support the troop\” canard. Reading from
a soldier\’s letter, he said you can\’t say you support the troops and not support
the war, too. The soldier is wrong. The worse thing that can be done is send
our troops into battle when what we\’re fighting for has become a war beyond
which we originally committed. When it becomes a war within a larger war, mission creep doesn\’t even begin to describe it.
Iraqi forces were surprised and nearly overwhelmed by the ferocity of an
obscure renegade militia in a weekend battle near the holy city of Najaf and
needed far more help from American forces than previously disclosed, American
and Iraqi officials said Monday.(snip)
The battle also brought into focus the reality that some of the power struggles
in Iraq are among Shiites, not just between Shiites and Sunnis. The Soldiers
of Heaven is considered to be at least partly or wholly run by Shiites.Among the troubling questions raised is how hundreds of armed men were able
to set up such an elaborate encampment, which Iraqi officials said included
tunnels, trenches and a series of blockades, only 10 miles northeast of Najaf.
After the fight was over, Iraqi officials said they discovered at least two
antiaircraft weapons as well as 40 heavy machine guns. … … ..Officials in the Shiite-dominated government are loath to detail internal
rivalries in their community, but in the past three years there have been
several clashes between rival factions, and the deaths of two senior Shiite
ayatollahs have been linked to internal struggles for dominance. …
Soldiers of Heaven. I wonder if Mr. Bush catches the irony.
The Iraqis don\’t know what they\’re doing. Period.
Under their noses, tunnels and all sorts of elaborate trenches were set up
and they didn\’t even get what was happening. They obviously weren\’t policing.
Then when it all hit the fan they had to call in U.S. troops and aircraft to
drop bunker busters, or the carnage would have been near catastrophic by all accounts.
Right now Congress is arguing over the effectiveness of the non-binding resolutions
being offered up by multiple camps. It may be a start, but it\’s hardly going
to get the job done, if anything is at this point. Because, it\’s wise to point out, we are not only fighting between a civil war that pits Shia against Sunni,
as well as al Qaeda elements in Al Anbar province, but we\’re also dealing with
a religious blood match between Shia.
How many levels of hell is the U.S. going to referee? Evidently, Mr. Bush wants
us to solve all of Iraq\’s internal issues. If Congress goes along with this
insanity we better make sure the next president has the spine to finish what
Bush left undone. Yeah, that\’s right, as far as Iraq is concerned, it doesn\’t look like we\’ll be going anywhere anytime soon.
