Juan Cole: Get our troops out of Iraq now

[understandinglife]

Why we Have to get the Troops Out of Iraq

by Juan Cole

September 25, 2005

The hundreds of thousands of protesters who came out throughout the world on Saturday were demanding a US and British withdrawal from Iraq.

The protesters are right that we have to get US ground troops out of Iraq.

The issue is not the rights and wrongs of the war. There were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. There was no nuclear program, and the mushroom clouds with which Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Rice menaced us were figments of their fevered imaginations, no more substantial than the hateful internal voices that afflict schizophrenics.

<clip>

I conclude that the presence of the US ground troops is making things worse, not better. Let's get them out, now, before they destroy any more cities, create any more hundreds of thousands of internally displaced persons, provoke any more ethnic hatreds by installing Shiite police in Fallujah or Kurdish troops in Turkmen Tal Afar. They are sowing a vast whirlwind, a desert sandstorm of Martian proportions, which future generations of Americans and Iraqis will reap. The ground troops must come out. Now. For the good of Iraq. For the good of America.

http://www.juancole.com/2005/09/why-we-have-to-get-troops-out-of-iraq.html

An extensive analysis is presented by Juan Cole as to why he now takes this position.

I add but one demand -- ALL American and British citizens must leave Iraq, not just the military.

When the government of Iraq decides to issue visa approval for an American or a British citizen to be in their country for whatever purpose - academic, corporate, technical expertise .... - the government of Iraq makes the decision to allow them to enter. Until then, all aspects of our imperialistic, illegal occupation of Iraq must end.


Peace.

[Larkspur]

1. Wow! Juan Cole had supported keeping the troops to restore order

I did too but I agree with Cole, the ground troops are in a trap of the Neo-cons' making, and they are over their head in Iraq. Even with a change of Admin's (to a Dem one) our troops won't be able to build credibility with the Sunnis. The political game in Iraq is lost. All we have left is the power to destroy. Just like Sauron's ring, our weapons can only destroy, not create.

[understandinglife]

2. Yes, it is a major shift in Juan Cole's position and it needs to be read

.... by as many as possible.


Peace.

[The_Casual_Observer]

3. Hitchens disagrees. He lays out an eloquent set of facts about how bad

the opposition guys are and what a mess it would be they took over. However, he offers no advice about how to prevent this from happening other than for US troops to remain there until the insurgents are all killed and democracy reigns - a highly unlikely scenario.

[NNN0LHI]

4. I just don't understand why we couldn't become friends with all of our...

...bombs and guns?

:freak:

Don

[demgrrrll]

5. Billmon at the Whiskey Bar has a similar post up right now.

Well worth reading this week http://billmon.org/

[Zero Division]

22. Billmon is an incredible editorialist.

His knowledge of history and his ability to draw up historical parallels to current events is amazing.

I read him more regularly then any other liberal blogger.

[Kagemusha]

6. Apparently the Tel Afar operation (a mini Fallujah) convinced him.

He said initially to the effect of, if this is all the good the US is doing, get out - fast!

Day later: Long, reasoned intellectual argument to the effect of, US, get out - fast! Why? Because he looked more and realized, this is as good as it gets, the US is not willing, and therefore not capable, to do anything other than precisely these kind of operations, cooperating with Kurdish forces in the "Iraqi Army", to crush Sunni Turkmen in this case. And that just will not cut it.

I've told friends that the US is the first western power to try to turn the Arabs *back* into nomads. They used to wanna civilize those people. Go figure.

[gulfcoastliberal]

7. If only the Vichy Dems could get real

Maybe then we'd win elections. Instead, they pander to the DoD/GenDynamics/LockheedMartin/Raytheon, etc billionaires in their continued support for this illegal "war". Those dems are ruining the country (& Iraq) just as bad as the repukes who started this mess are.

[MissMarple]

8. Oh, dear. Things are deteriorating.

This is getting so much more worse. We can't get ourselves out of this easily. And, folks, this is a sad and tragic thing. We have made a big mess of things and we are screwed.

We need new management, we need it NOW.

[understandinglife]

10. Yes, we do need 'new management' now!

In fact, anything remotely resembling 'management' would be a vast improvement over what we've had since Jan 2001.


Peace.

[DemReadingDU]

9. Recommended

[leftchick]

11. Holy Crap! This is Huge!

Juan has made a total flip on this. :wow:

[confludemocrat]

12. US Military most lethal killing machine ever, not good f/ nation building

To make an undertstatement.

They'd be great for truly defending the country. Wherever they are, lots of civilians get killed. Their doctrine is limit US casualties by erring on the side of blasting away at anything that moves "suspiciously".

[K-W]

13. Whew, I was hoping he would come around. Now lets see Franken

get with the program.

[leftchick]

14. It seems Juan has seen the light

<snip>

Basically, if all the US military in Iraq is capable of is operations like Fallujah and Tal Afar, then they really need to get out of the country quick before they drive the whole country, and the region, into chaos.

Even as they are chasing after shadows in dusty border towns, the US military is allowing much of Baghdad to fall into the hands of the guerrillas.

And that is why we have to get the ground troops out. Counter-insurgency has to have both a military and a political track. Even as the enemy is being pressed, you have to reach out to the civilian leadership and try to draw them into a truce.

The US military has had no political successes in the Sunni Arab areas. Mosul and some parts of Baghdad could have been pointed to in summer of 2004. In summer of 2005, these earlier successes have evaporated like a desert mirage toward which thirsty soldiers race.

The situation in the Sunni Arab areas was worse in summer of 2004 than it had been in summer of 2003. It is worse in the summer of 2005 than it had been in 2004. Even the Iraqi political groupings that had earlier been willing to cooperate with the US boycotted the Jan. 30 elections and are now assiduously working to defeat the new constitution.

[Joe Chi Minh]

15. "... no more substantial than

the hateful internal voices that afflict schizophrenics".

Why does he hate schizophrenics?

[frictionlessO]

16. K&R'd the hell out of this! This a major change for one of the greatest

minds in the west on the ME.

Wow if Juan is saying its now that bad, it is...

[understandinglife]

17. Agreed.

Peace.

[spuddonna]

18. Yes, we must get those troops out NOW...

This administration not only created a giant mess, but they actually made it worse with their lack of post-invasion planning.

I guess the thing that surprised me the most was I thought the military would protest more. I thought the generals who'd seen the mess of Vietnam, especially Powell, would have said - 'You can't do this! This is exactly why Vietnam went south! Too few troops, can't keep security, civilian Pentagon micro-management, etc...'

Anyway, we have a fubar mess. There is no way * will increase troop strength to that which is needed to adequately supply Iraq with security, so really the only other tenable solution is immediate withdrawal... and * won't do that either unless we keep protesting and the Dem leadship starts demanding it, along with the Republicans who actually want to keep their seats in 2006/08.

Kerry needs to get back out there and say it again "How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?"

[lady lib]

19. Kick.

This is really good info for the folks who insist that leaving Iraq will "embolden the enemy." :puke:

[eridani]

20. The military cannot construct a functioning society--

--it can only destroy one. You can't make a vase or a bowl with a hammer either, you can only destroy them.

[Ellipsis]

21. ...kick

[leftchick]

23. kick

this is a must read!

[lady lib]

24. Kick.

[understandinglife]

25. I've sent a request to the mods that they consider posting Juan Cole's ...

.... essay on the homepage.


Peace.

[goodhue]

26. I'm glad he has seen the light

This should be mandatory reading for stay the course apologists

[goodhue]

27. the presence of the US ground troops is making things worse, not better

Naturally this can be a hard thing to come to terms with, but it is the truth. How fast folks come to terms with it will directly effect how many more needlessly die.

[goodhue]

28. kick