I should also note that one result of guerrilla tactics on the part of Iraqi’s, with fighters posing as civilians, is that our troops will end up hassling, and probably killing, a lot more civilians. This isn’t isn’t going to help sell our invasion as “liberation” to the Iraqi people.
When the war started, I meant to post that I thought that I expected a quick military victory over Iraq, followed by a slow crushing defeat as we half-heartedly tried to remold the country while distracted by other foreign and domestic problems.
I never got around to it, and it is probably just as well, because I think I may have been over optimistic. Something isn’t right about the news we are getting back, even from the officially sanctioned and manipulated “embedded journalists.” It isn’t just that we are facing more resistance and defiance than we were led to expect. Its that we have claimed to have “taken” this or that city once, only to have to restate the point repeatedly after addressing one setback or another.
We have far fewer troops in the country than we need to control it. From that weak foundation, we have extended ourselves far into its interior. Iraqi troops are engaging in guerrilla tactics, posing as small groups of civilians. Meanwhile we have left large numbers of Iraqi forces unengaged in our hurry to reach Baghdad. This seems a bad combination. The forces we have bypassed now have time to de-group and blend into the civilian population. Once they have, it will be that much harder to distinguish them from civilians, and from true deserters, increasing the amount of effort we have to put into “crowd control,” something we are probably understaffed to do right now even in the best case.
I understand why Bush thought we needed to get into this fight. I don’t understand his great hurry.
Salon.com News | Why are these people smiling?
With war underway, and a Bush victory a possibility, the antiwar movement appears to be in denial about its future influence.
When Bush “won” the election, I heard smart lefties assuring each other that things wouldn’t look so great for the republicans come mid-term elections.
It smelled like hubris to me at the time, and it was no surprise (to me, at least) that the mid-term elections worked out pretty well for the right. Of course, those smart lefties couldn’t have foreseen 9/11 (though many of them also argue that 9/11 was the inevitable outcome of American imperialism), but thats really part of my point. Don’t get cocky, you never know whats going to happen to upset your complacency.
I can’t really say what the general mood is of the Anti-war movement, since I don’t have much to do with it, but they certainly seem to be in their own world to me. Perhaps though, they have already surrendered influence for the next 2-10 years (whether they know it or not) and are instead massing for later battles.
Whatever is going on, I find it troubling. I don’t know what the answer is, but I do know that we need credible opposition to Bush & his gang in the near term.
Now that was really unexpected. When the sirens went on we thought we will get bombs by the tom load dropped on us but nothing happened, at least in the part of the city where I lived. Air-craft guns could be heard for a while but they stopped too after a while and then the all clear siren came.
Interesting blog from Baghdad.
Turkey Shoot – How Bush made enemies of our allies. By Paul Glastris
Of course, we’ll never know the answer to these questions. History doesn’t do controlled experiments. But we do know that George H.W. Bush worked sincerely and energetically to put together an international war coalition and succeeded; Bill Clinton worked sincerely and energetically to put together an international war coalition and succeeded; and George W. Bush worked grudgingly and sporadically to do the same and failed.
Excellent article putting the failed international leadership of George Bush Jr into perspective.
The antiwar left does not mount massive protests against China, Pakistan or Egypt. Millions do not pour into the streets on behalf of the student-led democracy movement in Iran. And Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden are not angrily compared to Hitler — that treatment is more often reserved for George W. Bush.
This seems to be true, and it has been bothering me.