U.S. seeking any sign of success in Iraq poll

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N27236381.htm

WASHINGTON, Jan 27 (Reuters) - The United States is likely to latch on to any sign of success in Sunday's Iraqi national election amid increasing momentum for the earliest possible withdrawal of American troops.

No one talks seriously about "cutting and running" because it would damage America's reputation and invite neighboring states like Iran and Syria -- already accused by Washington of meddling in Iraq -- to become even more active, experts say.

"A precipitate American withdrawal would be almost certain to cause civil war that would dwarf Yugoslavia's and it would be compounded as neighbors escalated their current involvement into full-scale intervention," former Republican secretaries of state Henry Kissinger and George Shultz warned recently in the Washington Post.

"The essential prerequisite for an acceptable exit strategy is a sustainable outcome, not an arbitrary time limit," they said.

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[htuttle]

1. In other woids,

No matter what happens, Bush will claim it as a victory.

Just like always.

[VegasWolf]

4. Of course, and the sheeple will listen and believe and chant amen!n/t

[robbedvoter]

8. hey, he is even taking credit somehow for Ukraine - much as fraud

prompted a new election with new results there...Don't ask. :shrug:

[twaddler01]

12. and

the U.S. will be in Iraq for a long long time...

[hadrons]

2. Operation Wishing Thinking is still in progress

:eyes:

[Earth_First]

3. The last "arbitrary time limit" I remember hearing...

was current troop level deployment for the next two years.

[daleo]

5. It is the same thing they said with Viet Nam

"The U.S. can't leave or all of southeast Asia will be overrun by communists and be in a state of perpetual war."

It didn't turn out that way.

[b...]

6. They've had some successes...

Before the war, I never would have dreamed we could have killed so many Iraqis. But we did! America rules!

[spinbaby]

7. So what's success?

If more vote than are killed?

[b...]

9. logically...

anyone who doesn't vote isn't on board the train to freedom, or whatever they are calling it. if they don't vote, they don't support democracy, so it's no big loss one way or the other if we kill them.

and even if we kill voters, that's not that big a deal either, because some people may be voting for the wrong person or someone anti-american. and we can't just let people run around all day voting for whoever when the freedom bus is speeding through their town.

also the next iraqi who complains that they have no electricity or water, and that they had it better under saddam, also doesn't understand the long slog to freedom and it's no big loss if they die either.

i personally think it will be a success when i see the first ribbon-cutting ceremony for wal-mart baghdad.

[twaddler01]

13. you could not have said it better!

:thumbsup:

[gratuitous]

10. Well, I'm sure they'll find those signs, then

Regardless of whether those signs are ballots cast or mutilated bodies on the ground, the corrupt Bush administration will tout them as a sign of success! The media lapdogs, accustomed to believing whatever the administration is peddling, will look at the mutilated bodies and briefly wonder if this should be called success. They will then get the word from the Bushistas, and those doubts will vanish like a nightmare at dawn's early light.

Soon, they won't even remember seeing mutilated bodies, much less having any misgivings about the Iraqi elections, and all will again be good and right in George W. Bush's America. Because someone said so.

[KansDem]

11. Bush can do a lot of Iraqis a huge favor...

...by making public the names of all those Iraqis who are slated to be dis-enfranchised BEFORE they go to the polls. This way, Iraqis whose votes won't count won't have to even leave the (relative) safety of their homes...

I mean, it's the VERY LEAST he could do...

[twaddler01]

15. hmmm

:scared:

[Redstone]

14. If these people really are the "experts"

we're doomed.

"No one talks seriously about "cutting and running" because it would damage America's reputation and invite neighboring states like Iran and Syria -- already accused by Washington of meddling in Iraq -- to become even more active, experts say."

Damage our reputation? What fucking reputation?

Invite neighboring states to meddle in Iraq? What do you call killing 100,000 Iraqis? That's not "meddling?" And we're not even a "neighboring state." We went halfway across the fucking world to do our meddling.

Christ, my head hurts.

Redstone

[yellowcanine]

16. There is nothing to be gained by staying. We should declare victory and

leave by the end of the year. Bush is good at declaring victory so he should have no problem doing that.

[cliss]

17. This is so pitiful.

Here we are, the "Top Banana" of the world, reduced to scrounging for any shred of "success". This whole entire operation now hinges on a reasonable turnout on Sunday.

Bush already knows what's going to happen. The Iraqis aren't going to vote. Bushco will do its best to spin on the "spectacular" turnout, and the "encouraging" signs, along with a "show of liberation".

This is beyond dysfunctional. We've been reduced to the pariah of the world, pimping for support. Unfortunately, we're wallowing in the mess that we ourselves created.

[twaddler01]

18. I will be watching this...

and I will know that it is all fake because Bush will get his way.

God help the next president to get us out of this whole mess...

[rzemanfl]

19. How many people are going to die on Sunday for Bush's stupid

"election?" How many will be Americans? There was something really ominous on the web about how the "last 10% of the vote is as important as the first 10%" because of the way the election is structured. My "the fix is in" meter went from high to off the scale with that comment. They also said there was no "demographic data" so that exit polling could be done (read, they don't know who is still alive over there).

U.S. troops are moving from their bases into the cities where they will be separated from other units for easy slaughter. I wouldn't be surprised to see the toll of U.S. troops killed break 100 for a single day on Sunday.

[despairing optimist]

20. Bush flies Florida felons to Baghdad for Iraq vote and presidential pardon

"Jeb and I keep trying to come up with creative ways to trim deficits and keep the wheels of freedom rolling," he said.