The Iraq situation may well be hopeless.

[Perky]

the War Czar nominee has said that th al-maliki government may simply not have the capacity to take over and run the state.WASHINGTON

(AP) -- The general picked by President Bush to become his war adviser said Thursday he has serious concerns about the Iraqi government's ability to take control of its country, no matter how much pressure is applied by the United States.

"The question in my mind is not to what extent can we force them or lever them to a particular outcome but rather to what degree do they actually have the capacity themselves to produce that outcome," Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute said during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee.

"And if produced or if pressed too hard will we, in turn, end up with an outcome that isn't really worth the paper it's written on?" he added.

The underlying rationale for the surge was to give the country more time to get its act together (power sharing, Debaathification, hydrocarbon law). None of that is going to happen anytime soon.


The other huge problem is now that Pandora's box has been opened not even a strongman had the ability to emerge. We are now in a situation where we are propping up a "weakman" who may not survive to the next election.

And we clearly can not train their army after four years of trying.


All of this was foreseeable by Bush. Nothing has been done to effectively fix these problems. Nothing can be done militarily or politically.


Staying in Iraq accomplishes nothing. Leaving Iraq to its own devices will not work; is bad geo-politically and geo-strategically.


Stalemate. Quagmire. Impeachment. Not for getting us into this mess but for the 300 billion a year it is going to cost us each and every year for the next millennia.








There is no way this is ever going to work. Not for them. Not for us.

The only way is to create three separate states. work to prevent genocide in Baghdad and rout alQueda in Anbar province

[bryant69]

1. Even if the Iraq war weren't helpless

It's clear that our continued involvement isn't a benefit to anybody.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[donco6]

2. On this rare occasion . . .

:toast: I agree completely.

[Perky]

3. kicking a dying horse

:kick:

[TreasonousBastard]

4. This is what everyone's been afraid to say...

that there is absolutely no way to unscramble this rotten egg.

About those thousands of dead soldiers-- yeah, they died in vain for no good purpose.

About the billions spent and more billions to be spent-- yeah, it was all wasted. Every borrowed penny of it.

About the Iraqi people-- yeah, they're fucked. But good.

About stability in the Middle East-- yeah, it's down the tubes.

Back during the election when the Republican theme was "So what's the Democratic plan?" Well, it turns out that there is no Democratic plan, as I said back then, because there is no way out of this mess without more mess. There is no way for us to stay and pacify things, and there is no way we can leave without it turning into a worse hell than it is over there.

The honorable thing to do is to make the best arrangements we can for someone to run Iraq with minimal bloodshed and send Boy George and all the planners of this atrocity to the Hague under criminal indictment.

Not that that would ever happen, of course-- the US would never admit it fucked up that badly. Few nations would. Prosecution for planning and executing illegal war only happens to the losers of said wars.

[Perky]

5. well said eom