Sep 7, 2007

Twenty Years of 100,000 Troops in Iraq in Long Shot Gamble


It's of little importance what administration frontman Gen. David Petraeus has to say next Monday about Iraq.
If he has something on his mind embarrassing to Bush, then he won't say it.

If he tells the truth about Iraq, he won't be around long, so the career-minded General certainly won't be telling the truth, the Bush truth anyway is being crafted by politicos at the White House.

One truth Petraeus won't acknowledge are the lies and lust for oil that have killed 100,000s.

Kevin Drum of The Political Animal points to Fred Kaplan's another substantial bit of truth that likely won't be told:

- The matter if 100,000 American troops in Iraq for 20 years -

BURIED LEDE ALERT....Fred Kaplan has a good piece in Slate today about the upcoming Petraeus report and what Congress needs to ask about it. But I was more taken by an astonishing statement at the end of the piece from Stephen Biddle, a member of Petraeus's advisory panel. Here's his comment about the current plan to restore stability to Iraq via a "bottom up" strategy of working with tribal leaders:

Biddle also said (again, expressing his personal view) that the strategy in Iraq would require the presence of roughly 100,000 American troops for 20 years — and that, even so, it would be a "long-shot gamble."

Here's Paul Krugman's take:

Here’s what will definitely happen when Gen. David Petraeus testifies before Congress next week: he’ll assert that the surge has reduced violence in Iraq — as long as you don’t count Sunnis killed by Sunnis, Shiites killed by Shiites, Iraqis killed by car bombs and people shot in the front of the head.

Oh, and not to bury my own lede, but just wondering how many troops could get PTSD disability benefits with the money spent on the slimy- PR-induced-Bush-says-"We're kicking ass"- surprise visit to Iraq last weekend. What a man that Bush is.

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