Tracking Down Stories

Argh. I try to track down stories and links before I post them here. Both as an exercise in intellectual discipline and so people can follow up on what I saw if they want more in depth info. So I just spent time trying to find a story at the Guardian, a UK paper. I got an email this morning with a Sidney Blumenthal op-ed piece which purported to be from the Guardian but I can't track it down.

At any rate, I have said before, I did not oppose this war against Iraq. My view was, and continues to be, that any change in U.S. policy toward Iraq would be less costly to Iraqis than the sanctions. I wouldn't say I supported the war because it was obvious from the start that the Bush Administration would loot the country for its resources and generally botch any hope Iraqis could have for meaningful freedom.

So I have been torn watching recent developments there. What would happen if the U.S. cuts and runs? This passage is one of the best I have seen on the subject - it comes from the piece I discuss above.

"I see no exit," said Record. "We've been down that road before. It's called
Vietnamisation. The idea that we're going to have an Iraqi force trained to
defeat an enemy we can't defeat stretches the imagination. They will be
tainted by their very association with the foreign occupier. In fact, we had
more time and money in state building in Vietnam than in Iraq."

Couple this with the fact that Bush is started to divert money ear-marked for infrastructure repair into security and the sad fact is that U.S. troops there are causing more harm than good. And it is getting worse.

This was totally unnecessary from the start. As I stated in an earlier piece, the failed occupation in Iraq is a direct result of the Bush Administration's high handed approach to international politics. They built a shoddy "coalition," without preparing for the most difficult period of the war - after it was won. They did all this while ignoring their own people and reports, all of which predicted today's situation if Bush and Co did not plan for post-war Iraq.

Whatever, Bush's kids and the kids of those around him won't be fighting and dying over there - they will be richer from war profiteers like Haliburton. Ironically, it is the boys from the red states that are dying in Iraq - and they'll re-elect Bush for it. So why am I upset?? Cuz it is unnecessary!!

My point? Bush failed. Time to withdraw the troops before more die. Before more are wounded (wounded permanently in many cases). Before more families slide into bankrupcy because the breadwinners are fighting for Halliburton's guaranteed profit.