Vile and Perfidious VoteVets ED bloviates on Biden and Iraq
Hey guys, sorry for the radio silence, but I am back from my vacation in Texas.
Last night Jonn sent me the link to Soltz’s latest pronouncement on Iraq, a country he was in for 4 months 5 years ago. It’s about what you would expect. But, I’d like to start this post with a quotation sent me this morning that is the exact anti-thesis of VoteVets:
“It behooves you, therefore, to think and act for yourself and your people. The great principles of right and wrong are legible to every reader; to pursue them requires not the aid of many counselors. The whole art of government consists in the art of being honest. Only aim to do your duty, and mankind will give you credit where you fail.”
–Thomas Jefferson, A Summary View of the Rights of British America, 1775
Apparently Soltz’s duty is to shill for Biden, even when he makes no sense.
Even if the war itself was wrongly waged, it made some sense to provide some security to the Iraqis as they transitioned to a new government. But, Iraqis never took advantage of that security, after a government was formed, through the surge, and the end of the surge, to resolve their major internal differences without violence. In short, the reality of the US leaving them on their own never seemed like a possibility. When there was trouble, we sent more troops in to tamp down violence ourselves.
That hardly encourages self-reliance or self-preservation. It only encourages dependency.
That’s why the surge was nothing more than keeping the cork on the bottle, and why the only real option left is to make clear that all of Iraqis leaders and factions will lose, unless they resolve their internal political battles — now. If we don’t, and violence just continues on a loop with the expectation that we’ll eventually clean it up, our troops are in danger every time they move convoys, or military transition teams head out.
That’s why Vice President Biden did what he did, and why the message he sent was absolutely the right thing to do.
Yeah, ok. I was going to go through this and sharp shoot the hell out of it, but for what point? Let me use the work of two others which illustrates my point much better than I could myself. First, the incomparable Sam Elliott:
And now, the reprobate of all reprobates, the deplorable jackass Dahr Jamail, who proves conclusively for once that even a blind hippy will eventually find his granola:
Regardless of the outcome, it is clear that Iraq is further down the road of Balkanization, a plan that Biden has supported for years -to have Iraq split into three rump states. There is already evidence for this – for as Iraqi refugees in Syria and Jordan have been forced to return home due to funding to support them having been cut due to the Maliki regime pressuring hosting countries, as well as the UN, to have them return. Those returning have been unable to return to their homes. Instead, they are being forced to relocate to either Sunni or Shia areas. Moreover, the Iraqi government has been making no effort to help them return to their original homes, which indicates the Maliki regime is interested in supporting the Balkanization of Iraq.
Dahr seems to think that Biden’s comments are to further splinter the groups. I’m not quite so conspiratorial as that, but I did like the comment of someone in my little email group. She cited first to this:
While Biden stressed America’s commitment to Iraq’s progress in his public remarks, a senior U.S. official said the vice president warned the Iraqis that America won’t be able to stay involved if Iraq falls back into the cycle of sectarian violence that pushed the country to the brink of civil war….
Biden expressed particular concern that Arab-Kurdish tensions in the north might erupt into violence, according to a close al-Maliki aide.
Her comment:
Say the insurgents/terrorists: Thanks for the map, Mr. Vice-president.
Category: Politics
