OUCH ! But We Knew This, Didn't We

Via the NY Times, re: withdrawing from Iraq or not ...

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For Iraqis, General’s Report Offers Bitter Truth

By ALISSA J. RUBIN

BAGHDAD, Sept. 11 — Iraqis found themselves in a difficult position on Tuesday as they reflected on the report to Congress by Gen. David H. Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker. Although they say there is nothing they want more than to have American soldiers leave Iraq, they also say there is nothing they can afford less.

[ Snip ... ]

Mostly, Iraqis appeared rueful about their vulnerability and the need to allow foreign troops to help keep order for some time to come. Politicians were more measured in their views, and most stuck to the line that any withdrawal should be pegged to the readiness of Iraqi troops.

A city employee in Baquba, the capital of Diyala Province, vividly described his ambivalence.

“The withdrawal of the occupation forces is a must because they have caused the destruction of Iraq, they committed massacres against the innocents, they have double-crossed the Iraqis with dreams,” said the worker, Ahmad Umar al Esawi, a Sunni. “I want them to withdraw all their troops in one day.”

Dropping his voice, he continued: “There is something that I want to say although I hate to say it. The American forces, which are an ugly occupation force, have become something important to us, the Sunnis. We are a minority and we do not have a force to face the militias. If the Americans leave, it will mean a total elimination of the Sunnis in Iraq.”

Mr. Esawi added, “I know I said I want them to leave, but if we think about it, then I have to say I want them to stay for a while until we end all the suspicions we have of each other and have a strong national government.”

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Barge into a country throwing bombs left and right, spend 5 years blowing it then to smithereens, killing people left and right (hey, those "insurgents" all look the same, right ?), set two (or three) sects against each other because all the afore-mentioned actions created a power vacuum, ensure that the installed puppet management team are useless and can't do anything with Cheney's OK, and what do you get ?

A total clusterfuck of historically epic proportions.

And 18 months from now, GW will be sitting on the front porch in Crawford, sipping a margarita, scratching his nuts and chomping on pretzels while watching baseball, and Deadeye Dick Cheney will be the Chairman Emeritus of Haliburton, managing the ongoing increase in value of his options.

Both will have the blood of hundreds of thousands of innocents on their hands, and they will of course continue to argue that history will show them to be the ultimate champions of freedom and democracy.

Disgraceful to the absolute max ... a sad and shameful vignette in the long arc of history.

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