"Report to urge bush to put screws to Iraq"--actual headline

[Philosoraptor]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16065621/

The bipartisan Iraq Study Group plans to recommend to President Bush that he threaten to reduce economic and military support for Iraq's government if it fails to meet specific benchmarks intended to improve security in the country, a source familiar with the report said yesterday.

The congressionally chartered panel, which is due to deliver its much-anticipated report to Bush at the White House this morning and then unveil it to the public, outlined diplomatic and military ideas intended to change the course of the 44-month-old war. Among other things, the source said, the report urges Bush to aggressively tackle the Israeli-Palestinian dispute to reduce broader regional tensions fueling the Iraq conflict.

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Put the screws to Iraq? I thought that's what we've been doing all along.

[madokie]

1. They did, yes they did

[lapfog_1]

2. If by Iraq they mean the current precarious government...

yeah, that'll help just loads. :sarcasm:

If we arm and train the police/army... we've done nothing more than arm and train the militias.

If we choose sides, then not only do we help terrorists of one stripe or another, we become willing partners in the ongoing genocide.

If we try to police the entire country ourselves, without help from the Iraqi's, it will take 500,000 troops, each armed with the latest in body armour, and a willingness to see an addition 10,000 to 20,000 American dead, and 50,000 wounded. And then what? would we ever be able to leave? Maybe not for a generation or more.

We're screwed. Bush put the screws to US. There aren't any good choices that end the coming genocide other than massive and unending US deployment... and we can't afford that and won't do it. Possibly the best we can do at this point is drop a lot of arms on the Kurds, and have the Saudis and other Sunni countries offer asylum to the remaining Sunnis... and then we ferry then out of the country. The Sunnis will feel very betrayed and many won't go and those that do will dream of returning (like the Cubans in Florida, but on a massive scale). And I don't know if there is any Sunni country that would take them.

Or we can simply wash our hands of it and leave.

We're screwed. They're screwed. It's a clusterfuck.

[Philosoraptor]

3. Lose lose.

Nobody wins here, it's the perfect clusterfuckup, only bush's can fail this successfully.

[GreenZoneLT]

6. You left out an increase in terrorism

Don't forget, a divided and chaotic Iraq with unsecure borders is the perfect place to set up terrorist training camps, and a fertile recruiting ground for young men with a legit beef against the U.S. Check that box, too.

[DoYouEverWonder]

4. Like we haven't screwed Iraq

enough already?

Why am I not surprised that someone who would put the Saudis before the 9-11 victims and their families come up with this idea?

[ClintonTyree]

5. That sounds a lot like "cut and run" to me.

Set unattainable goals and when they fail to reach them we can "cut and run" because Iraq didn't live up to their part of the bargain. This sounds a lot like a "let's get the hell out of here" strategy but doing it while "saving face".
Those Iraqis DON'T WANT democracy, they DON'T WANT our help because they didn't live up to the goals WE set for them. Then it's "so long and thanks for the fish", Bush withdraws American troops and "saves face". It's all about "saving face" for Bush, about his legacy.
It won't matter. History will take such a dim view of Bush nothing can save his "pResidency". Worst, president, ever.

[opihimoimoi]

7. Bush has gone beyond WORST into the DISASTER ZONE

The Iraqi War is fueling a conflagration that is only in its incipient stage at this point. Unless we do something POSITIVE TO Change the dynamics...we are to reap what Bush has sowed...more conflict and discord around the World.

Arrogance will get one nowhere....and the American Peeps bought into this arrogant Bush...1/3 of us anyway...that resulted in very poor leadership...if ya wanna call it that....

Bush and his motley crew has fucked America in so many ways it boggles the mind...