Now with Democrats having total control of the Congress, should Americans expect change for the better in the years follow? Or we shouldn't expect anything. It's not like the Democrats really have anything appealing, I guess it's just people who are fed up with the war in Iraq. People voted the way it was to punish the president.
Rumsfeld was the first to honor the "stay the course" no more, he quit. Now that he's out of the way, I wonder if anyone is going to right the course given the mess we are in in Iraq....
The Washington pundits and career politicians need to come up with a solution fast. We owe it to our troops and the Iraqi folks to get out of this jam.
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IMHO, there are no other viable alternatives than either staying the course or withdrawing from Iraq. Staying the course has been tried and there's a price all Americans have to pay, particularly those who have their loved one fighting in Iraq.
ReplyDeleteThe other course is withdrawing, most likely a phased withdrawal. As long as Americans continue to occupy Iraq and dictate its affairs, it would be a rallying point for radical Muslims and jihadists. Take note of the candid assessment of the woman director of MI5 not so long ago.
I'd say Iraqisation has been well underway, especially in the British-controlled areas in the South. But the Iraqis are a divided people after all and were not good regular soldiers or policemen. As the old Cantonese saying goes: One can't put up a wall using wishy-washy mud.
So let's see what the bi-partisan commission headed by Baker and Hamilton has up its sleeve. But they've said there'd be no golden bullet. As I said, a phased withdrawal is more likely to appease the Democrats who are now in the majority both in the House and the Senate. I think American troops would be redeployed to Kuwait or Saudi Arabia, as Rep. John Murtha has proposed, as a swift reaction force and the Iraqis would be left to their own device.
Well, as to what would happen in Iraq after the GI's leave, whether Iraq would slide into a full-blown civil war, whether the oil-rich counrty is going to be partitioned or whether the Americans would come to the rescue of a crumbling Iraqi government militarily, it'd be anybody's guess. To a large extent, it would depend on the balance of power of various factions in Iraq and the political development in the US, such as whether the next president is a Republican or a Democrat. One thing is certain, though, i.e. most Americans are tired of this protracted war and fully realise what kind of a quagmire their country is currently in. The Democrats want very much to cash in on this sentiment for their political gain, as they did in the Mid-term elections. Whether they'd be able to pull another one off again in 2008, we'll have to just wait and see.
Awesome!
ReplyDeleteAn editor of the Foreign Affairs.
Sid never ceases to amaze me with his in depth analysis of international event.
ReplyDeleteFor me, cut and run is the best strategy. I believe in quiting. Quitters know they lost and cut their losses. While the real losers just drag on without any direction, goal or objective.
Great Analyst Sidney, you should take the place of Mr Sum Yuk Fai, a local so called "International Affairs Analyst". My simple and naive solution to G W Bush or Dr Rice, hire the Chinese volunteers to Iraq, pay them USD3000 per months. Millions of Chinese volunteers willing to go there, like the canning British hire the Nepalese as their troops
ReplyDelete