Saturday, September 1, 2007

Victory Caucus

Stand by the American Mission in Iraq


Iraq is now the central front in the War on Terrorism - not because Americans want it to be but because America's enemies have said so and made it so. Al-Qaeda and Iranian-backed militias are determined to drive the United States out of Iraq. Al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups would then use that country as a safe haven from which they can mount attacks on the U.S., its interests and allies.

We recognize that the U.S. involvement in Iraq has divided Americans and that our leaders have made mistakes. We also recognize the cost of this war, not only in financial terms but, more importantly, in the loss of more than 3,000 of our bravest men and women. The issue, however, is not how or why U.S. forces became engaged in Iraq but, rather, what is happening there now and what would happen if we were to leave too soon. (link)

Click through to read the rest and sign the petition.

Trackback weekend over at StoptheACLU.

10 comments:

Colin Campbell said...

Hard to see any positive outcome whether the US stays for a short time or a long time unfortunately. The die is cast. So many of the hopes for this war have been dashed and there are many dark forces who are seeking to exploit it. A weakened US President and divided political leadership in Congress only makes it worse. I hope that the last hopes of the neocons of double or quits (in Iran) does not eventuate. That would be tempting fate too far.

Wolfie said...

Damned if you do damned if you don't.

However I'd argue that the US presence in Iraq is making it easier to recruit in the near-east so a withdrawal would stem that flow.

Cruel that it may seem the ensuing civil war in Iraq would refocus factions along sectarian lines and reduce anti-American sentiments allowing time for the US military to re-build. The current campaign is bleeding the US dry of will and manpower, which is more dangerous than any other strategy IMHO.

James Shott said...

A radical change in "look," LN. I have some loading issues in Firefox.

More later.

James Higham said...

What you say makes sense but the motivation was bad and it wasn't U.S. motivation in a governmental sense - I won't go into that here on your blog.

So yes, they're there and if the U.S. leaves, Iran, under that nutter, will start a world war.

Buffalo said...

New look is clean and it loads quickly. But where in the hell is my cartoon?

Lord Nazh said...

JS: I use firefox to create and load my page, what issues?

Buff: cartoon back up

Colin: you ignore current news that Iraq may be turning around (of course it might not actually turn around, but most of the country is doing well)

wolfie: allowing a civil war and genocide doesn't seem like a good thing

Higham: Very true.

Wolfie said...

My point is Naz - do you think you can stop it happening with military power? If so the US would have to remain in Iraq for the next 1000 years.

The only alternative is partition.

Lord Nazh said...

And you base the 1000 year (i know it was a point number) on what?

We've been in Germany and Japan for how long? Korea?

Partition was a great idea the day Baghdad fell, too bad they didn't do it then. Now if we go that route, Turkey will invade Kurdistan and Iran will simply run the south. Leaving the Sunni central with no support and no money.

EvilMidniteBombr said...

Leaving without clearing Al Qaeda out of Iraq is a victory for AQ no matter what spin we try to put on it. Plain and simple. They are MUCH better at using the media for their purposes than we are. And they will turn any U.S. withdrawal into a victory. Most likely with celebrations, shooting of guns in the air, parades, Lionel Ritchie blasting from loud speakers, women lifting their burkas for beads, cats and dogs living together. Mass hysteria!

Leaving Iraq will not cause Al Qaeda to simply disband and move on about their lives. They will simply continue the fight by bringing it to wherever they can.

The thing that I see that most on the "Bring the Troops Home" side don't seem to get is that Radical Islam wants to kill us. No matter what we do to try and include them or appease them. Plain and simple they want all of us dead. Starting with the U.S., Britain, Europe and eventually they will move to the normal peaceful Muslims because they are not Muslim enough. This is a fight that we simply cannot afford to play politics with or worry whose feelings we may hurt.

Wolfie said...

Yes, that figure was entirely figurative. What I was getting at is that the Shiite and Sunni Arabs have been bitter enemies for a very long time and they will continue to be whatever we do. Germany and Japan were ethnically homogenous countries in 1945 (Germany having pretty much completed their cleansing) and were not under threat of civil war. They are not comparable to Iraq.

We are not left with any good plans only plans in differing shades of bad.

I intend to write a post on my position some time this week where I will clarify myself some more I hope.

Warzone

 Recently played a few games on Caldera (warzone) and then... Lots of luck in this one, but satisfying