| THE
BLUE RED
COLUMN
The Mountain Press
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| Bush’s Iraq “Strategy” Is An Unrealistic Obsession By: JIM ANDERSON December, 2005 Does George Bush have a strategy for winning in Iraq? He says so. Last week--after only 140 weeks of fighting in Iraq--Bush unveiled his plan for “Victory in Iraq.” You can read it on-line at www.whitehouse.gov. Just don’t expect hard details or real strategy. Mostly, it’s optimistic platitudes: “Our strategy is working--yet many challenges remain.” In reality--on the ground in Iraq--Bush’s strategy is failing miserably. Only one Iraqi battalion (about 700 soldiers) could now conduct combat operations independent of U.S. support. Iraq’s infrastructure--electricity, water, sewer--is below pre-War levels. Iraq’s oil is under-producing, not paying the war’s cost. To understand Iraq, skip “Victory in Iraq” and read a first-hand account by someone who really fought in Iraq, like “The Last True Story I’ll Ever Tell” by John Crawford (National Guard) or “One Bullet Away” by Nathaniel Fick (Marine). No talking points, no big speeches, no attacks on critics can hide the harsh truth about Iraq. We’ve de-stabilized the Middle East, given al Qaeda a training ground, and inflamed world-wide hatred against America. Now, no outcome looks good. As in Viet Nam, our best-bad choice is to start an exit in 2006, doing as little new harm as possible. In “Moby Dick,” Captain Ahab got obsessed by a great white whale who symbolized to him all evil in the world. Ahab pursued Moby Dick relentlessly, arrogantly pushing his crew onward, full-speed-ahead. Ultimately, Ahab sank his ship, the Pequod, killing himself and all crewmen but one. Today, Bush is our captain and we are his crew. We stand fearful on deck, in bloody water above our ankles, as Captain George cheers, “Stay the course.” Our damaged, leaky ship is sinking. But it’s not Ahab’s fictional Pequod. No, worse--we’re going down on our once-great ship of state. -Jim Anderson is president of the Sevier County Democratic Club (www.sevierdemocrats.com). ©The Mountain Press 2005 |