Hawkish plan to plant a puppet in Iraq

[lovuian]

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20192179-2703,00.html

The context is that the White House has been inviting outsiders in to the Oval Office to discuss strategy in Iraq. The new chief-of-staff, Josh Bolten, has reportedly been trying to pierce the intellectual cocoon in which the President comfortably resides. Bush family consigliere James Baker has been asked to rescue the President's failed Iraq policy.

But last week came the new nugget: an anonymous "military affairs expert" attended a White House briefing and reported: "Senior administration officials have acknowledged to me that they are considering alternatives other than democracy. Everybody in the administration is being quite circumspect, but you can sense their own concern that this is drifting away from democracy."

The number of civilian casualties in what can now only be called Iraq's civil war grows with each month. The thousands of innocent Iraqis killed in the past month dwarfs the civilian losses in Lebanon and Israel. The attempt by Nouri al-Maliki's Government to put down sectarian warfare in Baghdad has failed, requiring more US troops in the capital and thus abandoning the heartland of the insurgency, Anbar, to the rebels.

General John Abizaid, head of US forces in the Middle East, told the Senate earlier this month that the fighting in Iraq is "probably as bad as I've seen it, in Baghdad in particular".

More grim statistics emerged last week. The number of roadside bomb attacks is at an all-time high. In July, 1666 improvised explosive devices were detonated and 959 more were discovered before they went off. In January, 1454 bombs exploded or were found. That's the wrong direction, and it's after an elected unity government was installed.

A Pentagon official anonymously told the press last week: "The insurgency has got worse by almost all measures, with insurgent attacks at historically high levels. The insurgency has more public support and is demonstrably more capable in numbers of people active and in its ability to direct violence than at any point in time."

more...

There is a perfect Dictator with lots of experience on running Iraq in jail... named Saddam Hussein

thats your man Bush...

Reality is we replace one dictator for another...

[jimshoes]

1. Say, we have a wannabe dictator

right here right now. Why not give him a one way ticket to Baghdad, plant him over in that green zone, give him a couple of pearl handled pistols and tell him it's all yours junior, we're outta here.

[elehhhhna]

4. forget the pistols. He already has Saddam's. Let him take it.

[jimshoes]

7. I'd forgotten about that

No pistols then. (except SH's) :evilgrin:

[Warren Stupidity]

2. Reality is we get out and the Iraqis figure out what to do on their own.

We keep thinking that somehow we are going to solve the Iraqi problem, and that is where our great leaders depart from reality. We are not going to solve, fix, or otherwise control Iraq. We are going to complete the mission sure enough, but the mission is going to be completed by our bugging out and there being a big ass party as the Iraqi people take apart the green zone.

[lovuian]

5. Oh No ... Bush has to have his puppet in so he can get the

oil perks

[Jack Rabbit]

3. Democracy was never on the table in Iraq

The neoconservatives toss the word "democracy" around very loosely. If you don't believe me, just have a look at the PNAC website and read their stuff.

Democracy, as I use the term, is a state where:

• Citizenship is universal. Each person born within the boundaries of the state is a citizen, as is one born abroad to at least one citizen parent or who swears allegiance to the state in a rite of naturalization.
• Citizenship is equal. Each citizen has an equal opportunity to participate in and influence public affairs. Every adult citizen shall be enfranchised with the right to vote. Decisions are made by a majority voting based on the principle of one man/one vote.
• Citizenship is inalienable. A guaranteed set of civil liberties is in place to assure full and open public discourse of civic affairs. No citizen may be stripped of his citizenship or otherwise punished by the state for expressing any point of view, no matter how unpopular or even absurd.

Of course, it makes more sense to define democracy as they use it with a term like US sphere of influence or or US colony or something like that. Democracy, as I define it, is something in which the neoconservatives do not believe.

[PaDem]

6. Democracy was never a serious priority.........

for the administration and the neocons. The only requirement for a new regime in Iraq was that it treat the USA favorably. If a US friendly democracy could be worked out, then great. However, the neocons would choose a brutal dictatorship that oppresses, murders and tortures it's people but is pro-America before a democracy that treats it's citizens well but doesn't pander to the United States. What's infuriating is that what I just stated is the equivalent of saying that the earth is flat, but it's a foreign notion for most Americans.

[lovuian]

8. Agreed Oil was the agenda and Saddam was undercutting the

Saudis... as long as Bush gets his oil he doesn't care who is in charge

just how do you tell Americans you spent trillions for nothing...