by Barbara Lee= military progress really does is serve as a distraction - a smokescreen

[rodeodance]

Published on Tuesday, September 4, 2007 by The San Francisco Chronicle
Time For Congress To Take A Stand
by Barbara Lee

If you believe the Beltway hype, members of Congress will return today to a fiery debate about whether or not the president’s so-called “surge” has produced military progress in Iraq. Beltway pundits are breathlessly predicting Democrats will be thrown into disarray by claims that the increased troop levels in Iraq may have produced security results.

Don’t believe the hype. First off, the data are suspect. The Pentagon refuses to share the methodology by which it arrived at the metrics used to claim success. Even if the progress is real, it is hardly encouraging when put in perspective. When discussing the alleged gains he has overseen, Gen. David H. Petraeus stated that they put us on a course to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq sometime nine or 10 years from now.

What the debate about military progress really does is serve as a distraction - a smokescreen - put forth by an administration that finds it rhetorically convenient to speak in terms of “victory” and “defeat.”.......

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/09/04/3601/

It serves to obscure the basic, fundamental fact that there is no military solution to the situation in Iraq. Our troops are trapped in a civil war and occupation, a situation where there can be no “victory.” Our continued presence there is not only breaking our military, it is undermining our national security and our efforts to fight international terrorism.

[POAS]

1. There is NO military solution for the US in Iraq

so any illusions that tactical military victories bring Iraq closer to peace is fantasy!

There is only one way for the US to resolve this and get out of Iraq, with diplomacy and politics!

The Iraqi's themselves may be able to resolve this militarily for the short term via an all out civil war but we cannot be anything more than a target of convenience for all sides as long as we remain an occupying power there.