A modest (but improbable) proposal

Dave and the gang at The Bellman got me thinking about the nature of our moral obligation to Iraq. I'm pretty firmly in the "withdrawal sooner rather than later" camp, but do have a certain amount of sympathy to the argument that because we've fucked that country up, we should have to fix it. And it seems that in order to fix Iraq, we'd have to dramatically escalate the number of troops there (ours or someone else's) in order to provide a secure environment in which a political settlement could be reached.

Fine, problem is no one trusts the people who are prosecuting the war - not the men and women in the military, not the American public, not the international community, not the Iraqi people. No one. The people of the United States, and of any foreign nation who might be asked to help, have every right to say no to throwing more lives into the Iraq meatgrinder based on the performance of the Bush Administration. We simply have no confidence in them. They've repeatedly lied, they were incompetent in their prosecution of the war, and they've dragged the world into a very, very dark place. Why should they be allowed to keep fighting this war?

Again, however, an unstable Iraq is a potential disaster for the entire Middle East, with effects that would ripple far beyond the region. And while I've argued that the U.S. presence isn't helping the situation, I can certainly see how a rapid withdrawal leaves a vacuum in which millions of lives could be lost. Preventing that, to me, is a compelling reason to stay.

So here it is - if Bush is really sincere about wanting to stabilize Iraq and facilitate a political settlement, here are the conditions that must be met:

• The mission is framed explicitly in these goals, and any foreign troops leave as soon as they are asked to by the (hopefully solvent) Iraqi government. No permanent bases. No military advisors. We get out, and that's that.
• A full accounting of the run-up to and prosecution of the war must be had in order to re-establish any sort of public and international trust in the mission, and the Bush administration must be willing to abide by the findings of this investigation. That means rooting out the war criminals amongst the civilian leadership and military brass who pushed an illegal war, approved of torture, etc. etc. That means discussing the real reasons why the Iraq invasion was pushed - geopolitics, oil, world domination, whatever. A full and complete accounting, with the people responsible removed from power and held accountable. Nothing less.
• An international coalition (preferably mostly non-Western) is brought in to help provide security and mediate.

So there's my scenario for a plan - the only plan - I'd support for maintaining or increasing our involvement in Iraq. Pie in the sky, I know. Bushco will never agree to that. Rumsfeld will go quietly into the night. The generals who toed the line in order suck up to their civilian masters will quietly collect their pensions. But I will go on record as saying that with the current bunch in power, there is no way that the mess in Iraq will be resolved.

Let me lick the tears of unfathomable sadness!

So how did Pam from Atlas Shrugs deal with last night? Well, to start off, with bizarre metaphors and delusions of relevance:

Looking in the rearview mirror. That's what the Republicans should be doing going forward. They squandered their historic majority and they were punished. But let's not kid ourselves. The American people have been clubbed to death like baby seals by a drive by, jihad loving media and it took its toll. Years and years of lies and propaganda had its effect. The economy is the best case in point. We are experiencing the strongest most robust economy in recent history and if you listened to the media you'd have thought we were in the midst of a great depression. But it had it's effect. It certainly had it delterious effect on the public's perception of the war on Iraq - practically rooting for the enemy.

This is why the blogosphere is of critical importance. Where else will people get the facts? The news. If we build it, they will come. And so we must build it.

Ah yes, nothing evokes sympathy for Republicans like images of cute baby animals being bludgeoned to death in the name of fashion. And Pammy, dear, there is a conservative source for news you may be familiar with called FOX - and viewers are fleeing from this source for "facts." The right-wing blogosphere, however, is still my #1 source for items to point at and ridicule.

Pam's post-election pity party continues with some fallen hero worship:

Rumsfeld is going? Now I am depressed. The white flag has been raised. Bush has lost it.

I love Rumsfeld. Rumsfeld was solid. A straight talking brilliant strategist. He had to take a 19th military, decimated and raped by a shortsighted horndog (Clinton), and transform it into a lean, agile state of the art military overnight to go after the post modern 21st enemy. An enemy that has no specific territory, operates in the shadows, kills large numbers of civilians with an incomprehensible barbaric blood lust, and has made Iraq the central front on the war on Islamic fundamentalism. Rumsfeld did it, hands tied by the PC mentality that infected the Bush administration.

Why the rollover? Because Iraq was not over in 30 minutes and we couldn't pick up our marbles and go home? This is war buddy. War is tough, get over it.

First off, we know to whom you're referring when you say "horndog". You don't need to spell it out for us. You hate Bill Clinton. And Hillary. And probably Chelsea. And Buddy got what was coming to him. We get it.

I'm sure that the Rumsfeld Gambit of attempting the occupation of a nation - one with a history of violent chafing under colonial oppression - on the cheap will be studied in policy circles for years to come, although I somehow doubt scholarly discussions will center on the gambit's alleged brilliance.

As for the icky viral infection of PC that is spreading through the White House - if Abu Ghraib, gutting the Geneva Conventions, secret prisons, and spying on your own citizens is PC, I don't think we really want to know what would have occurred if Crazy Uncle Rummy and gang hadn't had their hands tied.

Après moi, le déluge

Crazy Uncle Rummy resigns!

Not clear on the concept

The White House responds to charges from Bob Woodward (again, four years too late) that Bush, Rumsfeld, et al were willingly misleading the public about Iraq by, uh... quoting speeches from Bush and Rumsfeld.