July 27, 2007
General Petraeus and More Dying to do in Iraq
.
The Sunni insurgents are a viable fighting force numbering in the tens of thousands. At no point in our lifetime will they be defeated.
Therefore political accommodations may be made to install peace in Iraq, but there is categorically no 'victory' available.
The enemy we set out to defeat, the forces of Saddam and the Baathists, are still viable and present on the battlefield. We have backed new governing forces, which already reek of Baathist misconduct and which also must accommodate the insurgents politically to survive. There is no victory ever to be had in Iraq.
That the dominant American political civilian overseers (Bush / Cheney / neocons) lack both desire for and any visible skill in negotiating makes the difficult simply impossible.
A sincere best of luck to Gen. Petraeus.
The Sunni insurgents are a viable fighting force numbering in the tens of thousands. At no point in our lifetime will they be defeated.
Therefore political accommodations may be made to install peace in Iraq, but there is categorically no 'victory' available.
The enemy we set out to defeat, the forces of Saddam and the Baathists, are still viable and present on the battlefield. We have backed new governing forces, which already reek of Baathist misconduct and which also must accommodate the insurgents politically to survive. There is no victory ever to be had in Iraq.
That the dominant American political civilian overseers (Bush / Cheney / neocons) lack both desire for and any visible skill in negotiating makes the difficult simply impossible.
A sincere best of luck to Gen. Petraeus.
Labels: Iraq, negotiating, no victory in Iraq, Petraeus
