Posted on 10/24/2007 5:04:34 AM PDT by shrinkermd
Boy, am I glad we finally got out of Iraq. It was so painful waking up every morning and reading the news from there. It’s just such a relief to have it out of mind and behind us.
Huh? Say what? You say we’re still there? But how could that be — nobody in Washington is talking about it anymore?
I don’t know whether it was the sheer agony of the debate over Gen. David Petraeus’s testimony, or the fact that the surge really has dampened casualties, or the failure by Democrats to force an Iraq withdrawal through Congress, or the fact that all the leading Democratic presidential contenders have signaled that they will not precipitously withdraw U.S. forces from Iraq, but the air has gone out of the Iraq debate.
That is too bad. Neglect is not benign when it comes to Iraq — because Iraq is not healthy. Iraq is like a cancer patient who was also running a high fever from an infection (Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia). The military surge has brought down the fever, but the patient still has cancer (civil war). And we still don’t know how to treat it. Surgery? Chemotherapy? Natural healers? Euthanasia?
To the extent that the surge has worked militarily, it is largely because of what Iraqis have done by themselves for themselves — Iraqi Sunni tribal leaders rising up against pro-Qaeda Sunni elements, taking back control of their villages and towns, and aligning themselves with U.S. forces to do so. Some Shiites are now doing the same.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
About the time Pinch realizes he has been unsuccessful in ending the War in Iraq, he will discover he no longer has a job or a newspaper. What Friedman will do is anyone's guess. Bloggers are a dime a dozen.
According to Friedman, "...So far, though, too many of Iraq’s leaders continue to act their part — looking out for themselves, their clans, their hometowns, their militias and their sects, and using the Iraqi treasury and ministries as looting grounds for personal or sectarian gains..."
Sounds like the US Senate to me.
Can't bring himself to give the US military credit, can he?
Umm. That was Gen. Petraeus' strategy Tom. How come they didn't start doing by themselves and for themselves until the surge, hmmmm?
This conflict in Iraq would have been finished two years ago if 40% of American politicians would not have been waiving white flags for all that time...........
Yes, US politics is very tribal. The black tribe is fully committed to one party, along with the gay tribe and the socialist tribe.......all trying to feather their nests from the public purse......
The whole point of the surge was to give the Iraqi forces and people enough breathing room (by killing lots of bad guys) to handle things on their own. Too bad the MSM and Donks don’t get that, or rather are so anti-US and anti-military that they can’t accept that and that it worked.
Good news in Iraq = good news for US = bad news for Donks = no MSM coverage. Entirely predictable...
Friedman forgot what Bush has been saying all along: as the Iraquis step up, we step down, but until they see we are not going to cut and run it would have been suicide for them to step up!
The greatest signal that America is NOT going to cut and run like we did in Somalia was sending reinforcements in - sometimes referred to as the SURGE........
Meanwhile, The Old Gray Whore is dying. It's hard to admit having a fatal disease while you are coughing up blood.
Since the news from Iraq is good for the Country, don't expect to see much coverage from the drive by media.
I really despise those lowlife bastards.
You beat me to that one. Do you think Friedman is even aware of the irony in his words?
Compare this quote from Major General Lynch in Iraq with Friedman's statement (below) from this posting:
"Most heartening, Lynch said, was the checkpoint just across the road and over an irrigation canal. It was run by Shi'ites.
Lynch said the checkpoints on opposite sides of the road highlighted a kind of reconciliation by necessity: not fighting each other but protecting themselves from a common enemy.
"They have to be convinced that we're not leaving. That's the issue. If they were to think we're leaving we'd have also sorts of trouble," Lynch said, clambering over a makeshift earthen bridge across the canal."
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1915499/posts
Friedman: Letting everyone know that we’re not staying there forever would be the best way to catalyze both local and regional negotiations and give us something we don’t now have: leverage.
We are still in Afghanistan.
And Bosnia.
And Korea.
And Germany.
And Japan...
After the President has been saying for years that this was his goal, the press must now tell the public that; no, that’s not what the President wanted at all.
Just as they have done with him throughout, changed his words, goals, intentions, and attitude. Remember when he specifically said dozens of time that he wanted Saddam gone BEFORE he became an imminent threat? To this day that statement is deliberately distorted.
The Left is sad to report that we still haven’t hit the 25,000 US deaths that they predicted.
“Letting everyone know that we are not there to stay”
...is the CHEIF problem with this war. We have been ACCUSED of imperialism (Islam IS spreading Islamic Imperialism under Sharia Law) so to distance ourselves from the claim, we worked to hand over the reigns before the job of securing the nation and borders (and using curfews) was done.
As far as “not there to stay”. Isn’t this what the terrorists who are ISLAMIC SUPREMACISTS say? They want the kufir out of so called “muslim lands”. Muslims only. Apartheid as championed by the Left.
Even native citizens of those regions who convert away from Islam are unwelcome there.
It is a RIDICULOUS notion to support the very concept of “muslim lands”. Cutting and running because “they are right” does no one any favors.
We don’t have to convert their damned souls but they do need to become more tolerant of non-muslims.
Hey guys, expecting a fair shake from the NYT is a waste of time. Remember this is the same NYT that didn’t see any genocide in the Ukrane. OBTW, they won a Pulizter Prize for that bit of propoganda. They are happy to lick the boot of any dictator. Its what they do.
“Do you think Friedman is even aware of the irony in his words?”
Friedman was a huge cheerleader for the War in Iraq, seriously he used to really expound on what a great place Iraq and the Middle East would be once Iraq calmed down.
Then he flipped, turned against the war, and went negative wherever he appeared pimping “The World is Flat”.
Low Character effite, elite pseudo intellectual snob.
And Bosnia.
And Korea.
And Germany.
And Japan...
And Cuba...
Well put.
Friedman and the NYT will do their best to deny credit that in any way goes to those who deserve it. One might ask him if the reason things have improved is as he says, would that have happened without the surge?
Yeah, but at the end of the Cold War there was no internet/alternative media! No one will believe it this time.
Or when Harry Reid tried to take credit for the $4.2 million raised by the ebay auction for the letter he sent to Clear Channel using government threat to censor Rush Limbaugh.
It was $4.2million raised by the auction because Rush had pledged a 100% match to the winning bid prior to the auction beginning. His donation was tied to the final bid.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.