Matthew Makes A Point On TPM

Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall: August 27, 2006 - September 02, 2006 Archives:

I and everyone else have been complaining awhile about Bush's habit of conflating various groups. We see here, though, that this isn't just some matter of intellectual fastidiousness. The idea here is that absent the US military, we would be handing Iraq over to some nefarious -- and, admittedly, it would be quite nefarious -- coalition of Baathists, Iranians, and al-Qaedists, presumably joined by Dr. Evil and the Cobra Commander. Back in the real world, though, these groups are fighting each other. What's more, the 'armed groups with ties to Iran' include the political parties that comprise the Iraqi government. So what is it our troops are accomplishing amidst this frothy mix of bad actors?

In all seriousness, what? Because here's the rub. If we were looking at a situation where maybe the decision to launch the war didn't look like such a hot idea, and maybe the reconstruction had proven much more difficult than we'd hoped, and maybe the slog so far had been long and hard and looked to continue to be long and hard for a while, I still could easily see myself convinced that the best thing to do was stay firm and continue with the policy. But looking back over, say, the past three years since the end of our first summer in Iraq, it doesn't appear to be the case that the situation has improved at all with regard to the problems Bush is pointing to. So what, honestly, is the point? What about the events of the past year makes it look like things will be better one year from today? Already, the apparent gains from the Baghdad security initiative are looking mighty short-lived, just as every skepticism-minded person predicted.

It's just more of the same from BushCo. Too bad Iran has even more oil than Iraq. That puts them in BushCo's sights, and what an easy launching point for an Iranian invasion northern-Iraq makes! It's sickening, but it's happening. The covert ops squads are in Iran all ready, mapping targets and setting up suckers for the future. We have to get BushCo out of power before this happens if we want to keep a semblance of world peace and stability, let alone gas for under $5.00 a gallon.