[Marxism] The "exit strategy" crumbles

["Eli Stephens" <elishastephens@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

The New York Times is out with a major article today:

<http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/19/international/middleeast/19cnd-iraq.html?ei=5094&en=03fb911eac4e06e0&hp=&ex=1116561600&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print>

describing the "sober outlook" of the war in Iraq based on the assessment of
U.S. generals:

""American military commanders in Baghdad and Washington gave a sobering new
assessment on Wednesday of the war in Iraq, adding to the mood of anxiety
that prompted Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to come to Baghdad last
weekend to consult with the new government.

"In interviews and briefings this week, some of the generals pulled back
from recent suggestions, some by the same officers, that positive trends in
Iraq could allow a major drawdown in the 138,000 American troops late this
year or early in 2006. One officer suggested Wednesday that American
military involvement could last 'many years.'

"Gen. John P. Abizaid, the top American officer in the Middle East, said in
a briefing in Washington that one problem was the disappointing progress in
developing Iraqi police units cohesive enough to mount an effective
challenge to insurgents and allow American forces to begin stepping back
from the fighting."

I've been discussing recently on my blog how the "exit strategy" (training
the Iraqi army to replace the Americans) is a sham, based on two factors: 1)
whatever "successes" the U.S. has had against the resistance has been in
almost all cases facilitated, or enabled, by the use of air power, and the
chances that the U.S. is training Iraqi pilots, or planning to turn over to
them the jets, helicopter gunships, and cruise missiles they would need to
duplicate the efforts of the Americans, is nil; and 2) the Americans are
even too afraid to properly arm the Iraqi army, knowing that the chances
that those weapons might be turned on them are great. The Generals don't
even mention these too factors, and they STILL reach a "sober" conclusion,
admitting that they "could still fail" in Iraq.

As I wrote in conclusion today, "I can only hope that this new assessment,
and this article from the New York Times, may be the lever which moves more
people from the "we have to leave, but only after we 'finish the job'"
position to the "Out Now!" position."

More on this, with links to earlier posts on the "sham" exit strategy, in my
post today at Left I on the News:

<http://lefti.blogspot.com/2005_05_01_lefti_archive.html#111650865116424924>

Eli Stephens
 Left I on the News
 http://lefti.blogspot.com



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