"An occupying army can't win anything.." --- Lakoff

[kentuck]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/george-lakoff/occupation-the-inconveni_b_24410.html

<snip>
We’ve begun with global warming. Now the U.S. and its military allies need to face another inconvenient truth, this one about Iraq: This is an occupation, not a war.

The war was over when Bush said "Mission Accomplished." A war has one army fighting another army over territory. U.S. fighting men and women defeated Saddam’s military machine three years ago.
Then the occupation began. Our troops were trained to fight a war, not to occupy a country where they don't know the language and culture; where they lack enough troops, where they face an anti-occupation insurgency by the Iraqis themselves; where most of the population wants them out; where they are being shot at and killed by the very Iraqis they are training; and where the U.S. has given up on reconstruction and can't do much positive good there.

The Occupation Frame fits a politically inconvenient truth. Most people don’t want to think of our army as an occupation force, but it is. An occupying army can’t win anything. The occupation only helps Al Qaeda, which Iraqis don’t want in their country since Al Qaeda attracts foreigners who have been killing Iraqis.

....more

[calimary]

1. I'll kick this.

And recommend it, too.

[msongs]

2. this appeared here days ago, but I will kick it also because

until democratic party INC starts using proper language to identify itself as a true opposition party, and using proper language to identify the american tyrant and his party as what they are, out to usurp and cancel the constitution of the US, there is no point in having useless chats with tepid and passive language, meaningless blather phrases like "new direction".

Msongs
www.msongs.com/political-shirts.htm

see you at democracyfest July 14-17 in San Diego
www.democracyfest.us

[leeroysphitz]

3. Kicked from here as well.

Because I think the framing of this issue is more critical than ever.

If the war is over and the occupation has done all it can (the Iraqi people now have a government, a constitution and elections) then whenever the administration says it won't order the EARLY withdrawal of our forces what they are really saying is that they REFUSE to begin the TIMELY withdrawal of our troops.

The distinction here is vast and crucial in my opinion.

[kentuck]

4. We should declare victory and get out as soon as possible.

That should be the Democrats message, in my opinion. Because "an occupation army can't win anything".

[malmapus]

5. Couldn't agree more, another kick!

:kick:

[understandinglife]

6. Lakoff on the "inconvenient truth" of America's Illegal Occupation of Iraq

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/understandinglife/630

Recommended.


Never Forget: George W. Bush willfully violated National Security to cover-up his willful launch of a war of aggression and illegal occupation of Iraq.

[King Coal]

7. It's called the flypaper strategy.

The flies have conquered the flypaper.

:

Tonder said, "Captain, do you get much news from home?"

"A certain amount," said Loft.

"Is everything well there?"

"Wonderful!" said Loft. "The armies move ahead everywhere."

"The British aren't defeated yet?"

"They are defeated in every engagement."

"But they fight on?"

"A few air raids, no more."

"And the Russians?"

"It's all over."

Tonder said insistently, "But they fight on?"

"A little skirmishing, no more."

"Then we have just about won, haven't we, Captain? " Tonder asked.

"Yes, we have."

Tonder looked closely at him and said, "You believe this, don't you, Captain?"

Prackle broke in, "Don't let him start that again!"

Loft scowled at Tonder. "I don't know what you mean."

Tonder said, "I mean this: we'll be going home before long, won't we?"

"Well, the reorganization will take some time," Hunter said. "The new order can't be put into effect in a day, can it?"

Tonder said, "All our lives, perhaps?"

And Prackle said, "Don't let him start it again!"

Loft came very close to Tonder and he said, "Lieutenant, I don't like the tone of your questions. I don't like the tone of doubt."

Hunter looked up and said, "Don't be hard on him, Loft. He's tired. We're all tired."

"Well, I'm tired, too," said Loft, "but I don't let treasonable doubts get in."

Hunter said, "Don't bedevil him, I tell you! where's the colonel, do you know?"

"He's making out his report. He's asking for reinforcements," said Loft. "It's a bigger job than we thought."

Prackle asked excitedly, "Will we get them -- the reinforcements?"

"How would I know?"

Tonder smiled. "Reinforcements!" he said softly. "Or maybe replacements. Maybe we could go home for a while." And he said, smiling, "Maybe I could walk down the street and people would say 'Hello,' and they'd say, 'There goes a soldier,' and they'd be glad for me and they'd be glad of me. And there'd be friends about, and I could turn my back to a man without being afraid."

Prackle said, "Don't start that again! Don't let him get out of hand again!"

And Loft said disgustedly, "We have enough trouble now without having the staff go crazy."

But Tonder went on, "You really think replacements will come, Captain?"

"I didn't say so."

"But you said they might."

"I said I didn't know. Look Lieutenant, we've conquered half the world. We must police it for a while. You know that."

"But the other half?" Tonder asked.

"They will fight on hopelessly for a while," said Loft.

"Then we must be spread out all over."

"For a while," said Loft.

Prackle said nervously, "I wish you'd make him shut up. I wish you would shut him up. Make him stop it."

Tonder got out his handkerchief and blew his nose, and he spoke a little like a man out of his head. He laughed embarrassedly. He said, "I had a funny dream. I guess it was a dream. Maybe it was a thought. Maybe a thought or a dream."

Prackle said, "Make him stop, Captain!"

Tonder said, "Captain, is this place conquered?"

"Of course," said Loft.

A little note of hysteria crept into Tonder's laughter. He said, "Conquered and we're afraid; conquered and we're surrounded." His laughter grew shrill. "I had a dream - or a thought- out in the snow with the black shadows and the faces in the doorways, the cold faces behind curtains. I had a thought or a dream."

Prackle said "Make him stop!"

Tonder said, "I dreamed the Leader was crazy."

And Loft and Hunter laughed together and Loft said, "The enemy have found out how crazy. I'll have to write that one home. The papers would print that one. The enemy have learned how crazy the Leader is."

And Tonder went on laughing. "Conquest after conquest, deeper and deeper into molasses." His laughter choked him and he coughed into his handkerchief. "Maybe the Leader is crazy. Flies conquer the flypaper. Flies capture two hundred miles of new flypaper!"

:

And Winter broke in angrily, "They would know. You do not keep secrets. One of your men got out of hand one night and he said the flies had conquered the flypaper, and now the whole nation knows his words. They have made a song of it. The flies have conquered the flypaper. You do not keep secrets, Colonel."

From the direction of the mine a whistle tooted shrilly. And a quick gust of wind sifted dry snow against the windows.

Orden fingered his gold medallion. He said quietly, "You see, sir, nothing can change it. You will be destroyed and driven out." His voice was very soft. "The people don't like to be conquered, sir, and so they will not be. Free men cannot start a war, but once it is started, they can fight on in defeat. Herd men, followers of a leader, cannot do that, and so it is always the herd men who win battles and the free men who win wars. You will find it is so sir."

[Ghost Dog]

8. That's Steinbeck, isn't it? n/t

[King Coal]

9. Yep. The Moon Is Down.

[kentuck]

11. Excellent analogy.

The flies have conquered the flypaper. Yep.

[rman]

14. "herd men win battles, free men win wars" - nice one. nt

[dorkulon]

10. Reminds me of this old piece by Alex Zaitchik

Occupational Hazard

After compiling and analyzing the world’s only comprehensive database of suicide bombings between 1980 and 2004, Pape found that millennial Islamic fundamentalism is the driving force behind only a small fraction of suicide terrorist attacks. Overwhelmingly, the prime motivator is “a clear strategic objective: to compel modern democracies to withdraw military forces from the territory that the terrorists view as their homeland.”

“From Lebanon to Sri Lanka to Chechnya to Kashmir to the West Bank,” finds Pape, “every major suicide-terrorist campaign – over 95 percent of all incidents – has had as its central objective to compel a democratic state to withdraw. Two-thirds of all suicide terrorists are from the countries where the United States has stationed heavy combat troops.”

Suicide terrorism is a “demand-driven phenomenon,” Pape elaborates in a recent interview. “It is driven by the presence of foreign forces…The operation in Iraq has stimulated suicide terrorism and given it a new lease on life.”

If Islamic fundamentalism and blind hatred of liberal western societies were the pivotal factors, Pape argues, we would be seeing waves of Al Qaeda suicide terrorists coming out of Iran. But we aren’t. Ditto Sudan. Based on his research, Pape agrees with the growing number of those who claim that lowering our profile in the Middle East would immediately and drastically reduce the related threats of suicide- and mega-terrorism against the U.S. and its allies. This, incidentally, is exactly what Al Qaeda has been saying clearly and repeatedly for more than a decade, in appeals beamed straight into our living rooms. We are free to ignore all of these messages, of course, and go on pretending our actions have no bearing on their actions. But that’s worse than counterproductive – it’s cowardly. If we’re going to fight this war on terror like fools, let’s at least do it honestly, and lose like we really mean it.

[IndyOp]

12. George failed to thank Thom Hartmann - "Occupation, Not War"

Reclaim the Issues - "Occupation, Not War"
Published on Monday, June 19, 2006 by CommonDreams.org
by Thom Hartmann

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0619-22.htm

Every time the media - or a Democrat - uses the phrase "War in Iraq" they are promoting one of Karl Rove's most potent Republican Party frames.

There is no longer a war against Iraq.

It ended in May of 2003, when George W. Bush stood below a "Mission Accomplished" sign aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln and correctly declared that we had "victoriously" defeated the Iraqi army and overthrown their government.

Our military machine is tremendously good at fighting wars - blowing up infrastructure, killing opposing armies, and toppling governments. We did that successfully in Iraq, in a matter of a few weeks. We destroyed their army, wiped out their air defenses, devastated their Republican Guard, seized their capitol, arrested their leaders, and took control of their government. We won the war. It's over.

What we have now is an occupation of Iraq.

The occupation began when the war ended, and continues to this day. According to our own Pentagon estimates, at least ninety five percent of those attacking our soldiers are Iraqi civilians who view themselves as anti-occupation fighters. And last week both the Defense Minister and the Vice President of Iraq asked us for a specific date on which the occupation would end.

The distinction between "war" and "occupation" is politically critical for 2006 because wars can be won or lost, but occupations most honorably end by redeployments.

[Disturbed]

13. Busholini, the Silverspoon Sociopath

stated that Iraq is under Occupation in that Press Conference where he was asked about mistakes and he couldn't think of any.