After rereading the transcript of Bushs’ give me one last chance, this time I’ve got a workable plan, really, I do speech to the nation, that is in fact a question worth asking - but not in the light that most people seem to be thinking about it.
After stating the obvious
The situation in Iraq is unacceptable to the American people — and it is unacceptable to me.
Gee, really, do ya think so George, after almost 4 years of “we’re winning, they’re broken backed cripples, hiding in the hills, we’re winning” things suddenly become unacceptable?
Our troops in Iraq have fought bravely. They have done everything we have asked them to do.
How unexpected, honorable mention for the troops, above and beyond the call of duty, rah-rah troops… that had to be said as a lead in for his next line.
Where mistakes have been made, the responsibility rests with me.
Since the whole thing was a mistake right from the get-go that means the whole fucking mess is your responsibility you dumbass….. nice of you to finally admit it.
[/rant]
But that’s not what this is necessarily about, there are a few other points that are worth looking at very seriously.
Failure in Iraq would be a disaster for the United States.
The consequences of failure are clear: Radical Islamic extremists would grow in strength and gain new recruits. They would be in a better position to topple moderate governments, create chaos in the region, and use oil revenues to fund their ambitions. Iran would be emboldened in its pursuit of nuclear weapons. Our enemies would have a safe haven from which to plan and launch attacks on the American people. On September the 11th, 2001, we saw what a refuge for extremists on the other side of the world could bring to the streets of our own cities. For the safety of our people, America must succeed in Iraq.
Nothing we haven’t heard a zillion times before, failure in Iraq is bad, if we fail in Iraq the results will be everything (and anything) from apple pie eating, Star Spangled Banner singing (in English only), flag saluting, patriotic Americans, being killed in their beds while they sleep….. to the four horsemen of the apocalypse riding down Pennsylvania Avenue waving copies of the Quran over their heads and shouting Allah Akbar at the top of their lungs as they behead pedestrians on the sidewalks.
The simple translation of all the rhetoric is we cannot not allow failure in Iraq because we think it will have negative consequences for US national security or US national security interests. [1]
– anybody disagree with that translation? Good, lets move on.
Our past efforts to secure Baghdad failed for two principal reasons: There were not enough Iraqi and American troops to secure neighborhoods that had been cleared of terrorists and insurgents. And there were too many restrictions on the troops we did have. Our military commanders reviewed the new Iraqi plan to ensure that it addressed these mistakes.
(emphasis mine)
So the gloves are off now? WTF was what you were doing before with Abu Ghraib, murder, torture, abuse, rape, and arbitrary detention, then?
I’ve made it clear to the Prime Minister and Iraq’s other leaders that America’s commitment is not open-ended. If the Iraqi government does not follow through on its promises, it will lose the support of the American people –
Newflash George, the American people lost faith[2] in your attempt to be a major entry into the great book of the history of the world (other than as “the great American fool”) a long time ago.
– but again, I digress again.
Let’s put this all together and see what we come up with.
- America cannot allow Iraq not to succeed and become a stable ally in the Middle East
- Bush is sending in more troops, with fewer restrictions, to help prop you up the Iraqi government
- American patience in propping the Iraqi government is really close to the end
– anybody disagree with that summary? Good, lets move on.
If failure is not an option, if there will be 20,000 more American boots on the ground real soon, and if American patience with the Iraqi government taking control of the country is nearly at an end - what is the logical outcome if the Iraqi government is unable, for whatever reasons, to nail down security to the satisfaction of the US.
Maybe it is a change in stated direction…..
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[1] “Mistakes have certainly been made by the United States in Iraq, just like in virtually every war in human history,†he said. “That is the nature of war. But however we got to this moment, the stakes now are incalculable.â€
[2] Sixty percent of those polled think it is unlikely that a stable, democratic Iraqi government will be established.
The telephone survey of 1,002 adults was conducted Monday through Wednesday night, when the president made his speech calling for an increase in troops. News had already surfaced before the polling period that Bush wanted to boost U.S. forces in Iraq.
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So what about the innocent Iraqis caught in the crossfire? What happens to the US if it changes direction and begins to pull out of Iraq? The US has a moral responsibility, having taking the responsibility for the life and welfare of Iraqis in its hands through the invasion, to protect these people and rebuild a stable country for them. The consequences of failure would be an abdication of responsibility and an abandonment of these people. There are actual costs to this. In addition, the odds that an Islamic Fundamentalist government, something that must be avoided everywhere, would take power are quite good and that would be even worse for Iraqis due to the barbaric, tyrannical, and oppressive nature of said governments.