| the problem is that there has been no plan since bush hatched the idea of invading iraq.. (unless you think wolfowitz's and cheney's promises of reconstruction funds coming from oil, and happy iraqis with flowers and candies as being a real plan.) we've screwed up virtually every step of the way. the ONLY real success that i can see have been the elections - too bad they haven't resulted in any semblance of stability or national unity in iraq.
the kurds, sunnis and shiites still all have their own, seperate agendas. the insurgency has not weakened. public services like water and electricity still aren't anywhere near where they should be (i think they're still worse than pre-war conditions in several parts of iraq). we have iranian meddling with the shiite majority, al qaeda meddling with the sunnis, and the kurds look more and more like they're running their own seperate country. shiites and sunnis are attacking each other every single day and is proof that there is a budding civil war in the country. our guys patrol the roads every day to clear up ied's - which are simply replaced the very next day. iraq has lots of separate militias, beholden to warlords like al-sadr... the iraqi economy is doing horribly with ridiculously high levels of unemployment and a currency that's just waiting to crumble. our heavy handed tactics like the destruction of fallujah, along with torturing iraqis at abu ghraib have helped turn at least 50% of the iraqis against us.
how do we make that situation better? beats the hell out of me. one thing i do know is that talking about withdrawing should be allowed to be a viable option in the debate. the alternative is to continue flying by the seat of our pants, going wherever the wind may take us. |