Iraq is down to a counter-terrorism strategy

[dumpthemonarchy]

Last night on PBS on the Charlie Rose show I saw the Democratic senator Schumer talk about Iraq. He said the US is only currently supervising a civil war and that maintaining the course is poor strategy since it has failed.

Sen Schumer said what it required in Iraq is a smaller military presence for counter-terrorism. A smaller counter -terrorism force would attack al-Qaida bases where they spring up. He said the US has good intelligence on these matters and that is what they should be doing.

The media sets it hair on fire that if US troops leave there will be chaos, genocide, or worse. Counter-terrorism, does that word ever make the media? This is obviously all that is required in Iraq these days.

Bush has little political capital invested in Afghanistan and that is why there are so few US troops there. You can learn things watching TV.

counter-terrorism counter-terrorism counter-terrorism counter-terrorism counter-terrorism
counter-terrorism counter-terrorism counter-terrorism counter-terrorism counter-terrorism

 

[DurkaDurka]

They should send in Jack Baurer and the rest of the CTU team to clean up Iraq. Jack is a one man army, more powerful then McGyver & Mr.T combined.

 

[Colpy]

Schumer is a complete idiot, always has been.

The Americans invaded Iraq, a move I heartily approved of at the time under the philosophy of "Death to Tyrants". It now appears it was a mistake.........

No matter.

The Americans allowed the situation to deteriorate to the point of civil war, they have an ethical responsibility to do whatever is necessary to stabilize the nation.

That means more troops, not less.

 

[dumpthemonarchy]

I like sen Schumer, he sounds reasonable. Clean up Iraq, hmm. Some countries are a disaster and Iraq is one of them. Iraq has had about a century of misery, will the US fix this? Getting mixed up the middle of someone else's civil war is fundamentally bad strategy. Actually, deluded.

Most Canadians don't give a rat's backside about Northern Ireland, where the people are European, Christian (sorta), white, and they speak English. The middle east is Asian, non-Christian, not-white, and they speak Arabic, Hebrew and other languages. Oh yeah, we know this place too. The Old World and its old problems we like to stay away from.

Religion in the western world has been overturned by science. god is dead, the new software is democracy and capitalism (and sports, electronics, and chicks, secular stuff).

I saw on the news that Muslims in Europe want to build a mosque across from a Christian church because it would "Intensify the religious debate." Pardon me while I yawn. A reason to lower immigration levels to Canada.

 

[darkbeaver]

Counter terrorism, terrorism, occupation, nation building, supplyers of freedom and democracy, moral leadership, bombing and straffeing is there anything they can't do.

 

[dumpthemonarchy]

The spelling is suppliers Darkbeaver. The Americans used to think they could do it all, now they have had a serious fall. Iraq has given them a mind-numbing whack.

I mean counter-terrorism simply to protect the world from terrorist attacks during the Iraq civil war. Then, in a decade or two, when it is over and Iraqis have found an acceptable political solution to their immense problems, and the government can control terrorism in Iraq, the Americans would leave.

Which brings me to Afghanistan, the US is not sending thousands of more troops there because Afghanistan has no dangerous terrorist bases in the country. A fairly cynical strategy in my opinion, but a realist would like it. Seems to perpetuate an endless war on terror.