Wednesday, November 10, 2004
LOLLAFALLUJAH
I haven't ever commented directly on the Iraq Conflict. It's time I give some props, and make some comments. First and foremost I am a son of the military. A proud son. That's why I have not been blogging much about the war. I have nothing but the utmost respect for our military personnel and the job they do. Nobody loathes war more than the soldier. I commend them on the taking of Fallujah, from the reports coming in, it was a place that needed cleaning up. That being said, does anybody actually think this whole ordeal is going to produce the desired result? I do not. I think we are creating more opposition, more terrorists if you like, every minute we are there. The only plan for peace that I can see at this point is to nuke the entire region. Either we kill them all, innocent along with guilty, or we face an eternal struggle. That's the position the President has put us in. When we went Osama hunting in Afghanistan, we were justified, hands down, no argument. At that time we could have still negotiated a plan for peace in that region, we had the support of the international community. We have lost that support, while Osama lives, and laughs directly at us. I hope we can find a way to bring our troops home, to secure a peaceful enviroment at home and abroad. It looks like I'm going to be hoping for some time to come.
I haven't ever commented directly on the Iraq Conflict. It's time I give some props, and make some comments. First and foremost I am a son of the military. A proud son. That's why I have not been blogging much about the war. I have nothing but the utmost respect for our military personnel and the job they do. Nobody loathes war more than the soldier. I commend them on the taking of Fallujah, from the reports coming in, it was a place that needed cleaning up. That being said, does anybody actually think this whole ordeal is going to produce the desired result? I do not. I think we are creating more opposition, more terrorists if you like, every minute we are there. The only plan for peace that I can see at this point is to nuke the entire region. Either we kill them all, innocent along with guilty, or we face an eternal struggle. That's the position the President has put us in. When we went Osama hunting in Afghanistan, we were justified, hands down, no argument. At that time we could have still negotiated a plan for peace in that region, we had the support of the international community. We have lost that support, while Osama lives, and laughs directly at us. I hope we can find a way to bring our troops home, to secure a peaceful enviroment at home and abroad. It looks like I'm going to be hoping for some time to come.
Comments:
Good post Jackson... I've got a few thoughts.
I would not go to the extent to blame the President for this mess entirely. I blame terrorists, Islamofacists, and their contemptible hatred for Jews and all other non-Muslims, and greedy Mullaahs who exploit the prior stated to flood their ever building bank accounts for a great deal of the current state of the region. I hold the President accountable for his decision to insert us into Iraq (don't what to argue about right decision vs. wrong decision, we all know where we all stand I think). I believe the verdict is still a couple years out on whether the US will meet it's objective in Iraq. There was certainly a gross underestimation of what post Saddam Iraq would be like. The President clearly didn't see it coming and it better be making him humble. But just as the Jets don't concede defeat at halftime when they're down by two touchdowns, nor should we in Iraq. We need to do what the Jets would do. Go into the locker room and make the necessary adjustments to get back in the game. I think the Fallujah assault is an indication that we are doing that (I haven’t really heard any real squawking from hardliners in Iraq re: the assault yet, at least not any that appear strong enough to break up the government).
I'd say the clock is running down to halftime in Iraq in my personal estimation. No real data to support my engagement time estimate, just my gut.
I know many don't want to believe this, but the reason we had international support for Afghanistan regime change vs. Iraq was because half of Europe wasn't benefiting from free oil and other perks that they were getting by crooked UN sponsored "Relief" programs. The U.N.'s own investigation verified this.
Will a stable, democratic Iraq be able to produce the desired result as you ask in your post? I don't know yet. Will the US ever be able to employ anything but force in the region to affect change from here on out? I don't know. Would we have been able to negotiate peace in the region prior to Iraq invasion? I will respectfully disagree with you on this one and say no way, no how.
Osama, while still number one most wanted, is nothing but a figurehead running for his life. We still need to hunt him down for justice reasons, but I don't believe he is directing any major terrorist activities at this time. Other cells have picked up that part of the activities for him. I think Osama 's biggest daily concern is where he's going to rest his hate filled head and not get killed in his sleep. He may be laughing at us, but I don't have to worry about being shot by special ops guys when I go to bed tonight.
Again, a great deal of the undercurrent for what is the Mid East divide comes from U.S support for Israel. I know how you feel about Israel's right to exist, but the reality is what it is. Israel is our ally and the Palestinians are using terrorism to upset any negotiation efforts to bring peace. Israel is taking unilateral action and I for one think they should until REAL effort is made to compromise on behalf of the Palestinians. I'm trying to remain optimistic about the Chairman's passing (sooner the better). I hope the Palestinians will elect/appoint someone who is ready for primetime. They should have taken the deal Clinton brokered (Clinton’s great accomplishment even if it was a non-accomplishment. I give him mad props for this). I gave up on the Palestinians when they pushed away from the table back then.
I was just given the "efficient vs. effective" question by my VP recently and I've applied it to much of the Middle East related issues. The question is: Are you better off being efficient or effective? According to him and others in high places, effective is the better answer if you had to choose one over the other (exp: you can be the most efficient company in the world, but still go out of business). Without debating the philosophy of that answer, I'd say we were both efficient and effective in Afghanistan (win win). I'd say we were horribly inefficient in Iraq and we are struggling to be effective (loss ?). Israel, not efficient, but the wall is certainly effective as is the rest of our approach (loss win).
What is not an option to any of this is to do nothing and wait. We've been debating for a couple of years now whether what the US has done was/is the right thing or not, and we will surely debate it more, but I know that doing nothing was only going to lead to another 9/11 for certain.
In the end, and without yelling at each other about it, there are no simple answers to any of these issues. They are vastly complex. I truly pray for a sign that progress is being made, but know that if it comes, it will be slow if it comes at all. In the meantime, I will wish for success.
I would not go to the extent to blame the President for this mess entirely. I blame terrorists, Islamofacists, and their contemptible hatred for Jews and all other non-Muslims, and greedy Mullaahs who exploit the prior stated to flood their ever building bank accounts for a great deal of the current state of the region. I hold the President accountable for his decision to insert us into Iraq (don't what to argue about right decision vs. wrong decision, we all know where we all stand I think). I believe the verdict is still a couple years out on whether the US will meet it's objective in Iraq. There was certainly a gross underestimation of what post Saddam Iraq would be like. The President clearly didn't see it coming and it better be making him humble. But just as the Jets don't concede defeat at halftime when they're down by two touchdowns, nor should we in Iraq. We need to do what the Jets would do. Go into the locker room and make the necessary adjustments to get back in the game. I think the Fallujah assault is an indication that we are doing that (I haven’t really heard any real squawking from hardliners in Iraq re: the assault yet, at least not any that appear strong enough to break up the government).
I'd say the clock is running down to halftime in Iraq in my personal estimation. No real data to support my engagement time estimate, just my gut.
I know many don't want to believe this, but the reason we had international support for Afghanistan regime change vs. Iraq was because half of Europe wasn't benefiting from free oil and other perks that they were getting by crooked UN sponsored "Relief" programs. The U.N.'s own investigation verified this.
Will a stable, democratic Iraq be able to produce the desired result as you ask in your post? I don't know yet. Will the US ever be able to employ anything but force in the region to affect change from here on out? I don't know. Would we have been able to negotiate peace in the region prior to Iraq invasion? I will respectfully disagree with you on this one and say no way, no how.
Osama, while still number one most wanted, is nothing but a figurehead running for his life. We still need to hunt him down for justice reasons, but I don't believe he is directing any major terrorist activities at this time. Other cells have picked up that part of the activities for him. I think Osama 's biggest daily concern is where he's going to rest his hate filled head and not get killed in his sleep. He may be laughing at us, but I don't have to worry about being shot by special ops guys when I go to bed tonight.
Again, a great deal of the undercurrent for what is the Mid East divide comes from U.S support for Israel. I know how you feel about Israel's right to exist, but the reality is what it is. Israel is our ally and the Palestinians are using terrorism to upset any negotiation efforts to bring peace. Israel is taking unilateral action and I for one think they should until REAL effort is made to compromise on behalf of the Palestinians. I'm trying to remain optimistic about the Chairman's passing (sooner the better). I hope the Palestinians will elect/appoint someone who is ready for primetime. They should have taken the deal Clinton brokered (Clinton’s great accomplishment even if it was a non-accomplishment. I give him mad props for this). I gave up on the Palestinians when they pushed away from the table back then.
I was just given the "efficient vs. effective" question by my VP recently and I've applied it to much of the Middle East related issues. The question is: Are you better off being efficient or effective? According to him and others in high places, effective is the better answer if you had to choose one over the other (exp: you can be the most efficient company in the world, but still go out of business). Without debating the philosophy of that answer, I'd say we were both efficient and effective in Afghanistan (win win). I'd say we were horribly inefficient in Iraq and we are struggling to be effective (loss ?). Israel, not efficient, but the wall is certainly effective as is the rest of our approach (loss win).
What is not an option to any of this is to do nothing and wait. We've been debating for a couple of years now whether what the US has done was/is the right thing or not, and we will surely debate it more, but I know that doing nothing was only going to lead to another 9/11 for certain.
In the end, and without yelling at each other about it, there are no simple answers to any of these issues. They are vastly complex. I truly pray for a sign that progress is being made, but know that if it comes, it will be slow if it comes at all. In the meantime, I will wish for success.
Hindsight does rock the full-tilt boogie, but I think if we had played hard ball with those european nations that were dealing with Saddam, we could have brought Saddam down without engaging troops. Evidence suggests he was verging on collapse.
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