Bush administration has already lost the war

[housewolf]

Wow, great article from DailyKos


Bush administration has already lost the war

Says who? Says James Dobbins. Dobbins is Director of the International Security and Defense Policy Center at Rand, and he's a former U.S. Special Envoy in Kosovo, Bosnia, Haiti, Somalia, and Afghanistan. In short, he's someone who knows something about war.

In his article (linked at DK) for Foreign Affairs magazine, Dobbins makes a simple, ugly point:
By losing the trust of the Iraqi people, the Bush administration has already lost the war.
The title of Dobbins grim article says it all, we're faced with a choice between "Quicksand or Quagmire."

<snip>

In an extraordinary interview (linked at DK) with Jacki Lyden on NPR's All Things Considered, Dobbins was joined by retired Army General, William Nash. The message that the two men delivered was so blunt, so counter to the message we're getting from the administration, that it was like a slap in the face. A hard slap.
(Trnascript at DK)

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/1/8/232420/8795

[Webster Green]

1. Hopefully, it will be his undoing.....

Maggot-boy will never admit that he made a mistake.

No matter how bad it gets, no matter how many of our kids are getting killed, he'll never admit that things are going badly.

At some point he will have to be hauled out of the white house in a straight jacket.

[DavidDvorkin]

5. It won't be his undoing

Unless the US media turn against him. If they simply keep repeating White House talking points, then Iraq will be seen as a victory by Americans no matte what actually happens there.

[rhino47]

2. We already know iraq is a tragic lost cause

These men coming out will not effect the delusions the * mis administration live under.

[theresistance]

3. The US is losing...

See a recent report from MSNBC which quotes a "senior military officer" saying that the US is losing in Iraq: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6802629/site/newsweek/

Retired US Army Lieutenant General, William E. Odom, a Senior Fellow at the right wing think tank, the Hudson Institute, said as early as May 2004 that the US had already lost in Iraq.

Unless of course US forces can kill enough people in Iraq to stave of defeat - see the above report which states US officials are considering repeating the genocide in El Salvador in the 1980's.

Rumsfeld said as early as November 2004 that El Salvador could be model for Iraq: http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4610634,00.html

[Martin Eden]

4. James Dobbins is well worth the read

His 4 page article contains a lot of no-nonsense analysis and strategies for making the best of a bad situation.
http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20050101faessay84102-p0/james-dobbins/iraq-winning-the-unwinnable-war.html