BUSH’S DESPERATION IS BECOMING CLEAR
By Schuyler ThorpeAuthor and Political ActivistIn an effort to paint Iraq the central war on terror, Bush rushed to declassify information that the American public had known since this war on Iraq began:
That Osama bin Laden is going to use Iraq as the central staging point for his attacks.
Does W think we are
stupid?
That one day we would wake up and say, “Hey! You’re right! We should stay in Iraq until the job is done?”
I think not!
The sad fact is, is that Iraq wasn’t the central stage in our terror war. That was Afghanistan.
We should’ve stayed there.
But we didn’t. Or rather
Bush didn’t. Bush made the rash assumption that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and rushed in to overthrow Saddam–by taking his eyes off Osama at Tora Bora for a split second.
And in that split second, Bush blinked, and Osama escaped. The bulk of his leadership escaped, while a great many of his followers were killed in the ensuing US invasion.
After toppling Saddam’s government, Bush inadvertently created a
vacuum in which the insurgency and groups like Al-Qaeda could fill with splintered-association groups, and keep the American-led coalition hopelessly pinned down through constant fighting.
And it’s worked.
Now, Bush is desperately trying to paint this war as the central war on terror–desperate to regain whatever support he still has left to him.
Like he’s done in the past when things have gone south in Iraq.
And they have.
But no matter what, neither Bush or any future President can fight what’s begun.
By shifting the war to Iraq–instead of Afghanistan–we’ve created a nightmare scenario that could’ve only come from a fictionalized movie.
And with each passing day, we are paying for it in both blood and treasure.
All because Bush wanted Iraq for his very own.Schuyler Thorpe is an author, a political activist, and a frequent letter writer to The Everett Herald of Snohomish County. He can be reached at: starchildalpha1@yahoo.comLabels: Afghanistan, Al-Qaeda, Bush, civil war, desperation, insurgency, Iraq, Saddam, Tora Bora
DON’T GET TOO OVERLY EXCITED–U.S. HAS ONLY BOUGHT ITSELF TIME IN THIS TWO-FRONT WAR.
By Schuyler ThorpeAuthor and Political ActivistIt comes as no surprise that the security operation in Baghdad has lessened some of the impact and horrors of the raging 4-year-old Sunni-led insurgency.
But before any of you war supporters start popping those champagne corks, you might want to just hold off the celebrating permanently:
All this has done is bought the US-led coalition forces some time and breathing room.
The insurgency has gone to ground and laid low for the time being, calculating new attacks and new approaches to the security operation–and probing the whole thing for weaknesses. But it doesn’t mean that the insurgency has been defeated by any means.
Even the capture of Al-Qaeda of Iraq’s leader (supposedly captured–no one has actually confirmed this publicly), hasn’t lessened the daily car bombings, the violence, and the killing of Iraq’s vulnerable citizens.
Make no mistake about it:
This insurgency hasn’t been crushed. And it won’t be militarily–no matter how many troops Bush sends into Iraq.
And we won’t even be able to hold onto the said areas once things are in place. Because–like before–the insurgency will rise and strike either at will or elsewhere in Iraq; thus drawing away much needed security from other cities and even the capital itself.
While Bush and his cronies are crowing about this latest “success”–they are still dangerously short-sighted in the long term:
We still won’t win this war by force or playing it up as a victory
in the war against terror.What will win this war is one thing which Bush doesn’t have or won’t embrace willingly:
Diplomacy.
And while he thinks that the talks with Iran this month was still a win for the US, it proved that we have lost a lot of ground with the international community as a whole.
Instead of, “Sure, we’ll sign on board,” Iran has simply offered, “We’ll think about it and let you know the results.”
That in itself is a slap in the face for our long-standing foreign policy initiatives.
And it will be awhile before the nations of the world begin to trust the United States openly again.
A long time indeed…Schuyler Thorpe is an author, a political activist, and a frequent letter writer to The Everett Herald of Snohomish County. He can be reached at: starchildalpha1@yahoo.comLabels: Al-Qaeda of Iraq, Bush, civil war, insurgency, Iran, Iraq, time, United States
