Iraq: Breeding Ground for Something or Other
By Anthony | August 4th, 2006 | 10:03 pmIn a discussion over at Noteworthy, Jaycee has some reassuring words about the situation in Iraq:
Iraq still is NOT a breeding ground for [terrorists]. It’s a breeding ground for entrepreneurs and others enjoying a democracy for a change, with a few die-hard Fedayeen and the like still there.
Ah. But that was on Tuesday. Apparently, things went quickly downhill over the next two days – according to the BBC on August 3, Britain’s outgoing ambassador in Baghdad warned:
The prospect of a low intensity civil war and a de facto division of Iraq is probably more likely at this stage than a successful and substantial transition to a stable democracy.
Even the lowered expectation of President Bush for Iraq – a government that can sustain itself, defend itself and govern itself and is an ally in the war on terror – must remain in doubt.
U.S. military leaders chimed in as well:
Army Gen. John P. Abizaid, the U.S. Central Command commander, did not try to sugarcoat things. “Sectarian violence is as bad as I have seen it in Baghdad,” he said. “If it is not stopped, it is possible Iraq can slip into civil war.”
What a difference a few days can make.
[Hat tip: Ed Cone]
Update: Things just keep getting worse. Oh, what I wouldn’t give for the good old days of earlier this week when Iraq was safe:
While American politicians and generals in Washington debate the possibility of civil war in Iraq, many U.S. officers and enlisted men who patrol Baghdad say it has already begun.
Army troops in and around the capital interviewed in the last week cite a long list of evidence that the center of the nation is coming undone: Villages have been abandoned by Sunni and Shiite Muslims; Sunni insurgents have killed thousands of Shiites in car bombings and assassinations; Shiite militia death squads have tortured and killed hundreds, if not thousands, of Sunnis; and when night falls, neighborhoods become open battlegrounds.
Riding in a Humvee later that day, Capt. Jared Rudacille, Murray’s commander in the 4th Infantry Division, noted the market of a town he was passing through. The stalls were all vacant. The nearby homes were empty. There wasn’t a single civilian car on the road.
“Between 1,500 and 2,000 people have moved out,” said Rudacille, 29, of York, Pa. “I now see only 15 or 20 people out during the day.”
The following evening, 1st Lt. Corbett Baxter was showing a reporter the area, to the west of where Rudacille was, that he patrols.
“Half of my entire northern sector cleared out in a week, about 2,000 people,” said Baxter, 25, of Fort Hood, Texas.
“Breeding ground for entrepreneurs” … sure, I suppose, as long as the entrepreneurs are renting out moving vans.
August 4th, 2006 at 10:46 pm
Only the truly brainwashed can possibly believe the crap that has been peddled by this administration about Iraq anymore. It’s actually not that things are getting worse, the lies are running out. We have all been watching, hoping that the Iraqis would pull this thing out despite Bush’s incompetence. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like it’s going to happen.
I fear that we have just created our own Afganistan. A failed state that will do nothing but breed terrorists for a generation. At this point we have killed so many Iraqis that the hate will linger for several generations.
August 4th, 2006 at 11:01 pm
“A failed state that will do nothing but breed terrorists for a generation.”
You folks need to make up your minds.
Is it “breed terroists”, or is it “Civil War”?
Maybe it’s “breed terrorists for the Civil War”.
Yeah…..that’s the ticket.
August 4th, 2006 at 11:09 pm
The two are not mutually exclusive, of course.
August 4th, 2006 at 11:16 pm
Of course. Afganistan was in a war that lead to a civil war that lead to a failed state/terrorist breeding ground. Even in failures we are not original.
But by all means attempt to make jokes while our troops are killed by the war instigated by your man, Bubba. The blood of so many good people is on Bush’s hands that I don’t know how he sleeps.
August 5th, 2006 at 7:46 am
You know I would have never believed it if there weren’t so many people vehemently shouting it from the rooftops so I guess it is true: George W. Bush is as powerful as God! That man can, and does, control minds, control countries and probably walks on water too. Wow! And just think I actually have the privilege of living during the same era as this all powerful being. I think instead of leaving my grandchildren a tidy trust fund I will start collecting all the news stories and stuff about GW so that a hundred years from now the kids can write an account of his many miraculous exploits and set our family up for generations to come. BB
August 5th, 2006 at 9:20 am
No need for that Brenda, history already has a really good list going:
Terri Schiavo
Katrina
“Heckva job Brownie!”
Jack Abramoff
Harret Meyers
No WMDs
signing statements
torture
gitmo
Bin Laden determined to attack inside the US
No Kyoto
Attempted “privatization” of social security
wiretaps
warrentless domestic surveillance
stem cells
ANWR drilling
unprotected national parks
creationism
lying about the true cost of senior drug bill
on and on and on. I personally don’t see any end in sight until he leaves office in ’08. Your kids can look forward to a few more things added in the next two years for sure.
August 5th, 2006 at 10:41 am
Brenda, perhaps you don’t understand the difference between famous and infamous.
Famous: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Ghandi, Abe Lincoln
Infamous: Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, W
Granted, he is not going to be nearly as infamous as the others on the list, but that’s because we have term limits on Presidents.
August 5th, 2006 at 10:46 am
Roger Darlin’ you forgot his arrogance and swaggering walk. However, perhaps you have missed his ability to walk on water. Perhaps His Almightiness did this walk while directing Hurricane Katrina to make a glancing, but effective hit, on New Orleans and the world missed seeing the walk thru all the wind and rain. Do ya, think? Huh?
Sorry Anthony, I won’t “dig” any more of your visitors. At least not today. I am going to be busy today singing “Happy Birthday to Me” and in deference to this momentous occasion will actually try to ‘make nice’ for a day. BB
August 5th, 2006 at 11:09 am
Happy Birthday Brenda! I hope you have a good one.
As far as digs are concerned, feel free to dig right back at them, as long as everyone remains relatively civil.
To be sure, Bush isn’t totally in control of world events – not everything is his fault, and things that are aren’t always totally his fault. That being said, the President of the U.S. does hold a lot of power, and I don’t feel that Bush has wielded that power very effectively or wisely. I do think that overall, we and the world are worse off because of him.
August 5th, 2006 at 1:26 pm
“The two are not mutually exclusive, of course.”
Particularly in the latter case, when the “civil war” allows them to terrorize each others’ group, rather than the rest of the world.
August 5th, 2006 at 1:31 pm
Many happy returns, Brenda.
Let the newest additons to the “Usual Suspects” club continue to talk among themselves while you celebrate.
With any amount of luck, they will achieve some semblance of catharsis, at least when it comes to themselves.
August 5th, 2006 at 6:12 pm
The people fighting the civil war are not the same people who were perpetrating international terrorism.
This has been primarily a domestic Iraqi issue for a long time.
Thus the lack of triumphalism by many upon the death of Zarqawi, welcome news though that was — and the outrage of people who were still insisting that the foreign fighters were the key to problems in Iraq.
Much the same problem telling one group from the others that led to our invasion in the first place.