MCCAIN'S 'LATCH-KEY' WAR FINISHED BY 2010
By Schuyler ThorpeAuthor and Political ActivistFor weeks now, John McCain’s desperation was only beginning to set in–soon after Barrack Obama returned from his successful tour of the Middle East and Europe.
But ever since the Iraqi government wanted the US to start withdrawing our troops from that battlefield, John McCain’s desperation only increased ten-fold.
From his negative attack ads portraying him as a ‘celebrity candidate’ rather than a
real Presidential candidate–to his false troops ad which openly accused him of ‘shortchanging our wounded troops’–John’s perfect little ‘hero’ world has begun to fall apart at the seams.
Since the surge has worked to some degree, it’s only perfectly
logical that we withdraw our forces and focus them elsewhere–like Afghanistan for example. (But that’s only
if either candidate has a clue as to what is
really going on over there. This other war is totally different from Iraq.)
But why is John McCain accusing Obama of wanting to ‘legislate’
failure from the bench–when we are clearly
winning in Iraq?
Simply put, McCain is still trying to paint Obama as an inexperienced candidate whom can’t make the right decisions as President.
Unfortunately, what John McCain fails to grasp is that his unwavering support of an unpopular war has led the majority of Americans to say that this conflict was a
mistake–similarly echoing American opinion from another failed conflict only a generation ago. (Vietnam.)
Secondly, since we are
winning the war in Iraq, why not leave? The one question that John McCain has thus far failed to answer is this one:
Why do you feel the need to overextend our stay in a country that clearly wants us out
?
Is it because John wants one last ’gasp’ of a Cold War victory over an enemy that he can neither see nor properly identity in Iraq? Is it because he wants to put the ghosts of a painful past–finally to rest? (By sticking us in place inside a war that is now largely over?)
Or is it because John McCain himself doesn’t want to embrace the very victory that he originally set out to have?
A latch-key victory with strings still attached?
Whether or not he wants to accept it, John McCain must face the reality of the new Iraq. That when October 2010 finally rolls around–we are
gone largely from a country we illegally occupied for the last 7 years.
Victory or not, our job is
done.
It’s time to focus our troops onto something else.
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 at yahoo.comLabels: 2010, Barrack Obama, Iraq war, John McCain, negative attack ads, troop surge, troops, Vietnam, withdrawal
MURDEROUS ACTS ARE BECOMING A BLACK EYE FOR U.S. FOREIGN POLICY
By Schuyler ThorpeAuthor and Political ActivistLast weekend, a notorious security firm called Blackwater alleged to have killed as many as 20 Iraqis–in what they claimed was a firefight with supposed insurgents; following a car bomb explosion.
As sensational as this seems, there has been some serious deception on Blackwater’s part–a trend which befits their infamous reputation as the military’s “Dirty Harry” apparat.
These people were hired by the U.S.
government to provide security for the diplomat entourages coming in and out of Iraq.
But their dirty little secret had remained in contention over the tactics upon which they used to carry out their jobs:
Firing at Iraqi civilians out of spite, having a complete disregard for the people and their culture, sharing an equal disdain for authority and the Iraqi people, and completely acting out of sheer recklessness.
And now it shows. They claimed to have been fired upon first, but a tape appropriated by the Iraqi government clearly shows Blackwater’s security henchmen firing
unprovoked on unarmed civilians trying to escape and flee their fire.
Does it come as no surprise that Bush recently sidestepped any questions regarding Blackwater and their latest acts of attrition towards the Iraqis?
Because he had a hand in approving the hiring of these mercenary thugs. That's why.
But this debacle doesn’t end there.
In 2004, the US-led coalition passed an amendment which gives
complete immunity to all security firms and US forces–in the event that they indeed killed Iraqi civilians in the same manner they conducted themselves in the Abu Ghraib escapade in 2004 and the Haditha massacre in 2005.
This clears them of any wrongdoing. The perfect “escape clause” from which they freely and openly admitted committed crimes against the Iraqi populace.
Why?
In light of a recent conviction of a 22-year-old Marine involved in the killing of an Iraq civilian in Hamdania in April of 2006, Robert Pennington expressed his squad’s frustration that they could not find a suspected insurgent.
In fact, the murderous act went far deeper than that:
Many combat troops felt that too many insurgents were escaping the justice that they claimed to deserve.
Hence the plot to kill the unarmed man and make it look like he was their man.
Their suspected insurgent.And Blackwater is no different.
The problem is that both the security firms and our military has now deemed the Iraqi people as being nothing more than a minor annoyance in their continued occupation of their country-
not human beings.
So it has become their mission in life to see that this
annoyance is dealt with swiftly and with murderous intent.
Regardless of the consequences for our nation’s future.
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 at yahoo.comLabels: Abu Ghraib, blackwater, Haditha, Iraqi civilians, Iraqis, murdered, troops
BUSH'S NEW WAR STRATEGY: STAY THE COURSE
By Schuyler ThorpeAuthor and Political ActivistNaturally, General Petraeus plays the same tune that Bush wants to here: “Stay the course–because we are making progress.”
But unfortunately, the reality on the ground is proving all that more harder to cover up with optimism and political spin:
Just this week, a leading Sunni sheik was assassinated by an Iraqi bomb.
The Iraqi police force needs to be disbanded and started over from scratch.
The Iraqi government is completely dysfunctional.
Only one of the political benchmarks have actually been met. (Or actually not. The meeting--between the leaders of the sects on August 26th--caused the Pentagon to revise that de-Baathification objective from being "unsatisfactory" to "satisfactory".
All because of that meeting! But the funny thing, is that no legislation has been passed!)
The rest have failed.
The Iraqi security forces need another 18 months to be "effective." (Not that we haven't heard
this before...)
And the list goes on.
This is the reality of the war in which we have effectively lost to the insurgents.
No amount of ‘good news’ and spin from the White House can erase what many Americans see now as a lost cause.
You don't hear
victory, just a "redefining of definitions of progress" and goals which can't possibly be met now or in the near future.
Certainly not when Bush leaves office.Things are too far gone to simply turn a blind eye towards our failures and try to start things over--which is what this adminstration has been trying to do.
Try to restart a war in which events of the last 4.5 years never existed at all. In reality, Bush is trying to rewrite history before his term of dishonor completes itself.Sp his idea to bring home the troops is nothing more than an insult, and a slap in the face for our serving military.
Considering that the conditions on the ground mirror a low-level civil war, all Bush is doing is buying time for himself–not the troops. Those troops whom were added to the surge have to be pulled back anyways.
Not because they
succeeded in doing anything impressive, but because they are stretched past the breaking point and have no fresh replacements on tap to replace them.
So they have to come home. But rumors are circulating even now that the President and his military crony advisors are planning on extending tours once more and shortening leaves--to make his surge more
permanent through 2008.
With no stability, unity, or democracy in
sight, Bush is just trying to escape the mess he’s created by announcing that he is indeed the Decider--no matter--and he has decided that no change in course is warranted–until
after he leaves office.
Which begs the question:
Is the Iraq war still worth it?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 at yahoo.comLabels: Bush, civil war, insurgents, Iraq, stay the course, troops
