But hey, the surge is working…
Full Disclaimer: I am a former soldier and an Iraq War veteran.
In watching CNN Headline News this morning, I saw Robin Meade report the new U.S. death toll in Iraq: 4000. In addition, at least 80,000 Iraqis have died, and that’s to say nothing of the 4.5 million, MILLION that have either been forced out of their homes or even the country. Now, don’t get me wrong, Saddam Hussein was a ruthless, vicious, waste of humanity. He genuinely needed to be taken down (though not like this, but that’s a whole different discussion). When oh when will we step up and acknowledge that this just isn’t going well? The worst stat Robin put out there? Last year, 2007, was the BLOODIEST for the U.S., with the death toll hitting over 900 during that year alone.
But hey, the surge is working…
March 24th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
Agreed that it’s a mess. The problem is how to pull out. McCain is way off with his 100 year remark, but Billary & Obama are just as clueless thinking a 60 day yank will work and sustain ANY good (amount debatable) that’s begun. A quick pull will also be used to the true enemies (i.e. terrorists) advantage, both in propaganda and action.
It’s a scary deal no matter how it happens, and unfortunately one we won’t see an outcome for for some time.
March 24th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
I wish a flat out withdrawal was doable now, but BushCo made damn sure that they invoked full squatters rights with that “preemptive invasion.”
Pisses me off to no end, because we could get the most rock star Democrat in office starting next January, and they’re guaranteed to be stuck with a mess that’ll be a classic case of “damned if you do, damned if you don’t.”
A good first step is if we got Obama in the White House is that he could get a wide range of bipartisan consultation working on exit strategies that won’t be a bunch of Yes-men (unlike the current person in the White House).
March 24th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
I’m wondering how much of the 900 happened pre-surge and how many post-surge, just out of fairness sake. But that really doesn’t matter much. The surge wasn’t meant to keep our number of dead down, it was meant to help promote progress over there and has failed miserably. If we simply wanted to reduce American deaths, pulling out would have accomplished that and put the onus on the citizens of that country to get their shit together.
Before someone thinks that sort of “let ‘em figure it out on their own” opinion is from some racist redneck, I’m a muslim. I’m still pissed that we’re forcing democracy on them, when an overwhelming majority wanted a theocracy. Add “forced democracy” to the list of oxymorons out there. If we ditch, at least they can eventually have a government that is truly of the people and by the people.
March 24th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
It’s tough. Unfortunately, anyone that thinks we’re ever completely leaving at this point is likely fooling themselves. After all, we’re still in Japan, Germany, Italy, and Korea, aren’t we?
March 24th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
Oh, and Kevin, here ya go:
Month, Named Dead, Reported Dead (unnamed), Wounded
January 2007 82 10 714
February 81 7 398
March 75 11 637
Surge of approx 20,000 troops sent March 20th, 2007
April 102 6 776
May 121 10 591
May, 2007 was the third bloodiest month of the entire war, and occurred 2 months after the Surge began.
June 98 13 669
July 75 11 654
August 77 10 658
September 62 9 347
October 37 2 376
November 35 6 244
December 23 193
So, the three bloodiest months were the three directly following the surge. It then evened out for about 3 months, followed by the three lowest death counts of the year (but, it should be noted, not the lowest monthly counts of the entire war). For the record, we jumped back up to 42 in January, 28 in February, and 34 so far this month.
March 24th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
You’re absolutely right, Lucas–but, I think as times have changed the roles of our “presence” has changed especially during the Cold War.
After the Cold War…well, that’s another story. I’m sure that our presence could’ve easily been lessened afterwards but I think the US gov’t still had that “we’re here for the purpose of readiness” card tightly locked in their fingers.
Plus, sadly, there are still people in our country who believe we should be the “World Police” even in the event that we neglect aspects of our own internal issue.
This is one of those odd moments, where again, I tip my hat to Huxford and agree–that and being a domesticated redneck (smirk)–I believe that we should have never imposed our imperialism on these people the way we have. Our culture is an apple to their orange–and we should have known better than to try to force ourselves and our own style of government (which, by the way, is riddled with flaws…) on a culture that is nothing like our own.
Now, we have facilities being built in these countries–which by no means is indicative of a 60 day pull out whatsoever.
I think the imperialistic phrase, “the sun never sets on the British Empire” of the 18th century is very easily applicable to the US of the 21st Century thus far.
Let’s hope this new regime we’re getting doesn’t end up a lame duck.
March 24th, 2008 at 2:39 pm
Thanks for the info, Lucas. Wasn’t trying to smash the idea that the surge was a failure, despite the four lowest body counts of the year coming during that span. Regardless of the counts, it was sold as being the thing that would allow the Iraqi government to get their shit together and they didn’t even make nearly the progress they’d have to in order to make the success or failure debatable. Hell, they took a break during the summer. As much as I bash our representation, I’d like to think that they wouldn’t take a break if American citizens were bombing locations around the country to express their displeasure with the current state of affairs.
March 24th, 2008 at 2:42 pm
In acknowledgement of Mr. Ekstrom’s tipping of his hat, I’d like to clarify that I wasn’t trying to disparage rednecks, but taking a shot at the knee-jerk way some people label and cast aside the other side and their arguments. No offense was meant.
March 24th, 2008 at 2:44 pm
I know that Kevin–I was making fun of myself. Personally, if you can’t make fun of yourself, you have no place making fun of others.
It’s probably why I’m such a blatant self-loather too, but I digress.
No offense was taken.
March 24th, 2008 at 6:34 pm
@Steve: Yeah, the whole positioning thing is why I don’t think we’ll ever really leave- That’s the part of the world we most need readily deployable troops now, much moreso than the others I mentioned. With the Prince kicking us out of Saudi Arabia when he took power, Iraq is our next natural staging ground.