Re: [Marxism] Gonzalez

[Eli Stephens <elishastephens@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

AH writes:
"He [Obama] has called for a residual force (meaning less than a brigade, 
meaning at most a couple of thousand soldiers) to protect US civilians and 
diplomats (good for him) and a small force to go after the 200 or 300 al Qaeda 
operatives."

200 or 300 al Qaeda operatives? You must be kidding. The U.S. military reports 
killing that many members of al Qaeda practically every week! As I wrote about 
here most recently 
(http://lefti.blogspot.com/2008_02_01_archive.html#8600404296206342021) but 
also 
on many previous occasions, if you read the news, virtually EVERY attack on 
"insurgents" in the media is described as having been against "al Qaeda." 
Claiming you are opposed to having troops in Iraq except for fighting al Qaeda 
(oh, and except for protecting U.S. personnel including OTHER U.S. troops and 
training Iraqi troops) basically means you aren't for a pullout at all.

Furthermore, another subject I've written about many times is the air war 
question. Virtually ALL success of the U.S. against resistance forces has been 
entirely or substantially due to the use of air power. If that were to stop, 
because the U.S. isn't about the equip the Iraqis with fighter jets, helicopter 
gunships, and the like, the entire dynamic of what is happening on the ground 
will change. At which time any candidate committed to the fundamentals of 
imperialism will immediately renege on all previous promises and rush the 
troops 
back in (if indeed they ever left).


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