Back                                                     Middle East Policy under Bush

I gave you the reasons why I opposed the war in Iraq. Now let's look at some of the consequences, but first let's get something straight: I've been hearing that the Democrats are the cut and run party. OK, so they're smart. Now let's take a good look at cutting and running. Who cut and ran from Lebanon when our marine barracks were attacked with a truck Bomb? Ronald Reagan (Republican) who pulled us out of Viet Nam? Richard Nixon (Republican) The 2nd World War? Harry Truman. (Democrat) Oh wait a minute we won that one. What I'm trying to say is that Democrats have never been afraid to fight. They only want an intelligent reason for that fight. Just recently then president Bill Clinton took us into Bosnia and we haven't pulled out. It was George Bush Senior who didn't finish the first Gulf war and for good reason. It's a shame his son doesn't have the intelligence his father had. We all backed the war in Afghanistan and still do. Let's use a little common sense and see where we are.

1. Secular violence bordering on civil war in Iraq: Secular bombings and mass murder day after day. Shiites killing Sunnis and Sunnis killing Shiites throughout the county. If 50 to a hundred deaths a day isn't a civil was, would you please tell me what is? If it escalates, (With our troops caught in the middle), how many more of our people will die and how much money will we have to pour into the Iraqi government to prop it up?

2. The New Iraqi government denouncing Israel and not mentioning Hezbollah: Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki at a press conference with George Bush at the White House denounced Israel's attack on Hezbollah terrorists without mentioning that Hezbollah is a terrorist organization and that it had attacked Israel first. (Hezbollah killed 241 American servicemen on Oct. 23rd. 1983 when they bombed our Marine barracks) Iraqi Vice President Adel Abdel-Mahdi accused Israel of carrying out "Massacres" in Lebanon. (Iraq's top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, demanded an immediate cease-fire in Lebanon, warning that "Islamic nations will not forgive the entities that hinder a cease-fire," al-Sistani said, in a clear reference to the United States, Thanks to Yahoo News.) What did we expect. Most of the leaders that were voted in had been in exile in Iran or Syria during the rule of Saddam Hussein.

2. a: Anti Israeli and American Demonstrations in the street of Baghdad: Shiite followers of Muqktada al-Sadr (Remember him?) flocked to the streets by the thousands denouncing America and Israel while burning our flags. Again, what did George Bush think would happen? Oh! That's right. He said we'd be welcome with open arms as liberators. Ha.

2. b: All it would have taken is common sense: In 1982 Israel invaded Lebanon to drive out the Palestine Liberation Army. (At that time Yasser Arafat was the PLO leader.) The PLO had held the Lebanese government hostage and the Israelis were greeted as liberators. Time went by and the Israelis came to be considered as occupiers and Hezbollah was born. What ever made George Bush think the same thing wouldn't happen in Iraq. It wouldn't have taken much intelligence to see the similarities between the two. The least that should have been done was to have planned for an insurgency.

3. The empowerment of Iran and Syria: As I said before, Iraq under Saddam Hussein was an enemy of both Iran and Syria. By taking down the Hussein government we have empowered both of them. The eventual government, weather we like it or not, will be made up of mostly Shiites, many of whom will have ties to the governments of Syria and/or Iraq. Unless we build permanent bases we will have created a Shiite area which will cover a land mass from Afghanistan to the western Mediterranean and if we do build them (Permanent bases.) we will be considered occupiers and will continue to put our young people at risk and out treasury will continue to be depleted for decades to come. If the government in Pakistan falls (because of Perves Musharraf's close ties to the Bush Administration) that area I was talking about will be even larger.

4. War between Israel and Hezbollah and Hamas: We walked away from Lebanon, or at least paid very little attention to them as they allowed Hezbollah to gain a foot hold in the government. We should have been putting pressure (Economic or diplomatic.) on the government to control their southern border. Doing nothin never helps.

5. The resurgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan: In our hurry to invade Iraq we left to few troops in Afghanistan to support Hamid Karzai and his young government. What made the Bush administration think that a country whose rebels were able to drive out the Soviet Union during the height of their power could be held by a relatively small force of international troops and the Karzai government. To top that mistake off we haven't provided nearly enough support for their economy. Which has led to # 5 a.

5 a: Afghanistan is once again the worlds top produces of Opium: We haven't keep our promises to help rebuild the infrastructure nor the economy. We should be helping the farmers grow profitable crops for use not only in the country but suitable for export. Olives and dates come to mind. We have to get the government to step down hard on the growing of poppies. Afghanistan is a Muslim country and drugs are against the law. How much of that drug money is going to war lords or terrorism?

6.. Iran rushing toward the bomb: We relinquished our negotiating power to Russia, France and Great Britain and look how far Iran has moved toward the bomb. Why would a power as large as America is let other people negotiate for them.

7. The people in the Arab streets turning more and more against the U.S.: When we went into Afghanistan we had the support of most of the people in the Arab streets. That support has all but vanished thanks to the war in Iraq. We call it collateral damage, the Arab people call it murder. We say that the few Americans that commit crimes are criminals, they think that all Americas are that way. We are creating more and more terrorists.

8. An Egyptian terror group joining with Al-Qaeda: update the group in Egypt denies it has affiliated with Al-Qaede. However it will still try to topple the Egyptian government.

9. With the feelings against America growing day by day, how safe are the leaders who are still our Allies? Many of the countries that are our allies are run by dictators or strongmen. If they are overthrown by an uprising in their countries we'd most likely see more radical Islamic states. Egypt, Jordon, and Saudi Arabia come to mind as does Pakistan where Pervez Musharraf is hanging on by a thread. (Remember Pakistan is a nuclear power.)

09/09/06: I just heard on CNN: That Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is going to Iran to establish friendly relations with the Iranian government. Right just what we want.

What to do:

The Republicans have been making a point of criticizing the Democrats, saying they are complaining about the war in Iraq but have given no solutions except to cut and run. I'm sorry but I've heard many scenarios that have been given by the Democrats. I've watched many of the Senate hearings and watched the Republicans on the committees brush aside some very helpful criticism. Some examples:

During the last presidential debates John Kerry (D) Mass. suggested removing the police and military trainees from within the country where they were being killed, left and right and moving them to a neutral country for training. They could then be brought back into Iraq with the knowledge needed to do their job and do it with some semblance of safety.

Joe Biden (D) Delaware has offered many solutions to several of the problems. He talked about the need for more troops. We ferret out insurgents in a town then move on to the next town only to have the insurgents redeploy back into the town almost immediately. (We have to have enough forces to hold the towns we liberate.) He has mentioned the fact that the reconstruction of Iraq is falling farther and farther behind schedule. He has rightly asked for more oversight of our contractors. (Most of whom have been given no bid contracts by the administration). He suggested that we contract or sub contract a large portion of the reconstruction to the Iraqis themselves. That would lead to higher employment and some hope for a future to the Iraqis.

Joe Lieberman (D) Conn. pushed early on for better equipment and more safety equipment (Such as more and better body armor.)

Other Democrats have offered bills on the Senate floor but without being in power had and have no real power to change the way the war is being run.

Looking at all that has happened and where the country is now. (Because of the poor planning of Donald Rumsfeld and the administration) I feel that we may have to resort to dividing the country into three sections: A Kurdish, a Sunni and a Shiite section. The same way India was divided into India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. The oil wealth would have to be shared since most of the reserves are in the central part of the country but it would be better then a full scale civil war. We are almost at the point where we have to chose which is the best of the worse situations. The grand plans of George Bush and the Neocons are in the past. There will never be a good ending to out intervention in Iraq.

As for the "Cutting and running: True some Democrats have been saying we should get out now but very few. What most Democrats have been saying is we should set a time table, set goals, that the new government of Iraq has to meet. It's something we should take a close look at. When the Bush administration set dates when the elections had to take place, they took place. When the administration set a date that they had to have a constitution in place, it was. When we set a date that the government had to be in place, it was. Now it's time to set a date when it has to stand up and become an independent nation.

We have to outsource the reconstruction of Iraq to Iraqis. Not only will this give the Iraqi government some legitimacy but create a better economy for the people of Iraq. I recently watched a conference on reconstruction in Iraq on CNN where they showed a home movie of some of the work done by American construction companies. They showed a hospital that was to be opened in a week that had raw sewage seeping up from under the floor in an operating room. Only a hand full of the hospitals that are needed are even under construction. Most of the contractors are bringing the designs for the work from America. Some of the Hospitals were being built with blue prints for warehouses. There has been very little if any oversight of either the construction or the cost overruns. The electrical grid is still below pre war levels. We have to do better. The Iraqis have one advantage that Americans don't. They know their land, They have been building on their land for centuries and know what kind of foundation is needed to support the buildings. Let's give them a chance to have some pride in their country. Maybe, just maybe, they will stand up and protect that which they have built.

We have to involve the rest of the free world in the reconstruction and security efforts. The whole of the non-Arab world has a major stake in a secure Iraq. An Iraq that can supply oil and gas to the world at a reasonable rate. I feel this will be hard to do for an administration who snubbed it's nose at our allies when they disagreed with their misguided policies. We may have to eat crow, to get some of them back aboard. Something the Bush administration (Who have made no mistakes at all.) will be very reluctant to do.

We have all seen what has been happening in Iraq and the rest of the middle east. Do any of you believe the Bush policy is working?

More to come.