Robert Gates says next step could be "conflagration." WTF is that?

[RiverStone]

Robert Gates, BushCo's choice to be the next defense secretary, said today in his Senate confirmation hearing that the United States is losing the war in Iraq and warned that if the country is not stabilized in the next year or two it could lead to a "regional conflagration."

CONFLAGRATION? :shrug:

conflagration \kon-fluh-GRAY-shuhn\, noun:

1. A large and destructive fire; a general burning.
2. Something like a conflagration; conflict; war.

When the cane fields were set alight to rid them of snakes and the sky was brilliant with orange and yellow, Kwaku knew that there was a profound meaning in the conflagration and the rain of ash that fell in its aftermath.
-- Roy Heath, Kwaku

Though now we talk about lots of smaller wars, what's to prevent a really big conflagration?
-- Robert D. Kaplan, An Empire Wilderness

http://dictionary.reference.com/wordoftheday/archive/2004/05/11.html


So BushCo's criminal war of aggression is taking us to a conflagration. Thats one definition I would have rather not learned today.

[acmavm]

1. As in maybe the entire region will blow up???

And who's fucking fault is that may I ask???

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

12. As always, it is the fault of...

...the Clenis.

[ewagner]

2. No Kidding, Sherlock...

(okay that's not what I wanted to say)

Everybody with an ounce of sense told Bush and Company that an invasion of Iraq would destabalize the region and risk a REGIONAL CONFLAGRATION .

Ignorant SOBs!

[w13rd0]

3. The only "winning" solution is...

...to divert all defense spending into creating a time machine and going back to December 2000 and correcting a horrible wrong. Or going further back, convincing Barbara to take care of the problem before it is born.

[rock]

4. We could send Schwarzenegger

I somehow picture him in that role.

[John Gauger]

8. Give her some

abstinence-only education. That'll solve the problem.

[opihimoimoi]

5. In the lexicon of Fire Fighting..the term means large fires...as in FIRE STORMS

where the heat and flames produced shoot upward in a fashion that drags in air from surrounding areas to fuel the fire even more...

Bushies war might end up like that...creating a fire storm that drags in surrounding Nations and beyond....This could be a Global thingy if not contained somehow..

Bushies Crew are known for their cronyism and thus void of valid ideas...such is an inept despot.

[Divernan]

7. When the allies bombed Dresden, the fire storm sucked in civilians & refugees

trying to escape the town. There were descriptions of people being literally pulled up into the air and sucked into the fire. Others dropped to the ground from lack of oxygen and were burned up This was toward the end of the war; the town was full of approximately 200,000 refugees and wounded soldiers, in addition to the civilian residents. The German air defense had collapsed, and the German army was in retreat. It is still being argued in Germany and elsewhere that if the allies had not won, this would have been classified as a war crime.

I think that if and when an accurate description of the massive attack on Fallujah is made public, including the use of white phosporous, it will similarly be perceived as a war crime, within the larger war crime of the baseless attack on Iraq.

[MrPrax]

11. Similarly...

There was an urban legend during the war in Japan. People thought that Hiroshima was being spared from American 'luftwaffe' because there was a large Christian mission there. They thought that the Americans wouldn't hurt Christians. So all the refugees and wounded from the other firebombed cities fled made their way to Hiroshima.

Suckers!!!

(partly the reason why the death toll was higher than Nagasaki)

Citations and a little seasonal fun reading, Santa recommends:

War Without Mercy by John Dower

The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb -- Gar Alperovitz

[Divernan]

6. "Conflagration" is Bush-speak for civil war.

nt

[On the Road]

9. I Believe "Conflagration" Would Consist in

1) the breakdown of command within the Iraqi armed services, with Sunni, Shiite, and Kurdish units following separate leadership. The stage has been set, since ethnically integrated units have been found impossible to control.

2) Those units engaging in combat with each other, probably with the introduction of more powerful weapons. In other words, a Bosnia-style conflict, which could include attacks on civilians or sieges of cities and neighborhoods.

3) Possible intervention by outside states. Iran, for example, could intervene to protect the Shiite minority in Baghdad. The Sunnis could intervene on behalf of the Sunni minority in Kirkuk and other Kurdish cities. The Turks might try to suppress a Kurdish separatist movement.

4) Possible large-scale attacks on the Green Zone or US military positions. This would be made more likely if Sunni insurgent groups are implicitly supported or tolerated by Sunni military commanders. The insurgents could begin operating more like Latin American paramilitary units have in El Salvador, Columbia, etc.

It is a real danger. Probably the only benefit of the status quo is that it is preventing or postponing these scenarios.

[GreenPartyVoter]

10. You mean we haven't already burned everything up over there?

[Jacobin]

13. Transalation

Major Regional Clusterfuck of Epic Proportions.

In other words, A Bush* calamity

[Nickster]

14. Frickin people like Gates make me sick. It's constantly kick the can down the road

and cross your fingers that everything will get better on its own. Why is it impossible for Republicans to come up with a plan, any plan??

"Oh my, it isn't a civil war yet but what happens in the next six months is vital." "Someday it might turn into a conflagaration, but the next 6-12 months are crucial." "Once Saddam is captured/Zarqawi is killed/There are elections.....everything will be better in the next few months after that event occurs."

Bastards! Ever last one of them. Word games and parsing language won't get us out of this mess. Doesn't anyone see the emperor is naked yet? Anyone? Please take the toys away from the madman!