Victory Is Not an Option

[aps]

According to William E. Odom, who is a a retired Army lieutenant general and was head of Army intelligence and director of the National Security Agency under Ronald Reagan, we can NOT succeed in Iraq. He also served on the National Security Council staff under Jimmy Carter. He went to West Point, got his PhD from Columbia, and now teaches at Yale. This ain't no dummy by any means.

One of the things he points out is the number of countries since WWII that have been able to become a constitutional democracy--less than 10. He questions why anyone even bought into this horse$hit that Iraq could become a constitutional democracy, particularly when it took the United States 2 centuries to create the democracy we have today.

He thinks that Congress is acting irresponsibly in not stopping the war now. I hope members of Congress will read this article and think twice about their stupidity. "If we stop now, we are not supporting our troops." Odom condemns such statements. He notes that, "[T]he strangest aspect of this rationale for continuing the war is the implication that the troops are somehow responsible for deciding to continue the president's course. That political and moral responsibility belongs to the president, not the troops."

This is a great article. It says to me, "Let's get out now" from a very credible source.

Victory Is Not an Option
The Mission Can't Be Accomplished -- It's Time for a New Strategy

By William E. Odom
Sunday, February 11, 2007; Page B01

The new National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq starkly delineates the gulf that separates President Bush's illusions from the realities of the war. Victory, as the president sees it, requires a stable liberal democracy in Iraq that is pro-American. The NIE describes a war that has no chance of producing that result. In this critical respect, the NIE, the consensus judgment of all the U.S. intelligence agencies, is a declaration of defeat.

Its gloomy implications -- hedged, as intelligence agencies prefer, in rubbery language that cannot soften its impact -- put the intelligence community and the American public on the same page. The public awakened to the reality of failure in Iraq last year and turned the Republicans out of control of Congress to wake it up. But a majority of its members are still asleep, or only half-awake to their new writ to end the war soon. . . .

washingtonpost.com - nation, world, technology and Washington area news and headlines

 

[aps]

Interesting how NO ONE has commented on this article.

 

[bub]

Because if I say its interesting (which is what I think) "they" are gonna call me leftist anti-American European m*ron.

 

[Dezaad]

I think the reason people who generally support Odom's arguments don't comment on the article because of how uncertain every course of action, every option, is. All who agree with him believe that escalation will lead to more of the same: further descent into civil war, and further destabilisation. However, many of the hoped for results of withdrawal are far from certainties.

I find his analysis of the contradictions frighteningly lucid. For example, he points out that the administration's policy of attempting to keep Iran from gaining influence in Iraq is incoherent. After all, if you depose a Sunni led dictatorship in a majority Shiite nation, it is all but inevitable that the largest Shiite nation in the region will have considerable influence in the new government. I saw this inevitability back before the war began, when I grew suspicious of Iranian indifference to America attacking Iraq!

 

[Flea]

Originally Posted by Dezaad
I find his analysis of the contradictions frighteningly lucid. For example, he points out that the administration's policy of attempting to keep Iran from gaining influence in Iraq is incoherent. After all, if you depose a Sunni led dictatorship in a majority Shiite nation, it is all but inevitable that the largest Shiite nation in the region will have considerable influence in the new government. I saw this inevitability back before the war began, when I grew suspicious of Iranian indifference to America attacking Iraq!

As did I. Apparently nobody in the current administration ever heard of the Persian Empire. that Arabs came in and replaced Zoroastrianism with Islam.

With the conquest of the M.E., The Arab empire, which was ruled by the Umayyad Dynasty, took their empire to new heights. At that point, it was the largest state in history.

We effectively erased the one factor blocking the re-emrgence of the Persians.

 

[aps]

Because if I say its interesting (which is what I think) "they" are gonna call me leftist anti-American European m*ron.

Who cares what "they" call you? Seriously. If you notice, even "they" were unable to attack Odom's arguments.