Tweet
Courtesy of the Great Centrists:
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) — In the deadliest attack since the beginning of the Iraq war, suspected Sunni-Arab militants used three suicide car bombs and two mortar rounds on the capital's Shiite Sadr City slum to kill at least 145 people and wound 238 on Thursday, police said.
The Shiites responded almost immediately, firing 10 mortar rounds at the Abu Hanifa Sunni mosque as Azamiya, killing one person and wounding seven people in their attack on the holiest Sunni shrine in Baghdad.
Ah, October. I remember you well:
"No one wants to end the war in Iraq more than I do, and bring our troops home" [Joe Lieberman in the Hartford Courant - October 19, 2006]
"I want to end the war in Iraq and bring our troops home" [Joe Lieberman in the Associated Press - October 19, 2006]
But it's November now:
Lieberman Says Phased Withdrawal Would Be ‘Road To Disaster.’
Last night on Hannity and Colmes, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) said a phased withdrawal of American troops from Iraq beginning in the next four to six months would be “a road to disaster” and “basically the beginning of giving up on Iraq.”
LIEBERMAN: "We cannot let that happen. Iraq is now a central battlefield in the war on terrorism, and we’ve got to have a success strategy there."
Then, of course, there is St. John McCain and his "more measured " approach of sending 20,000 more troops to Iraq and expanding the military by as much as 100,000 people.
Meanwhile, over at Matthew Yglesias' blog, one commenter offers the most functional definition of "centrism" as it is commonly used that I have seen:
Don't you know the rule? Right-wing on national security and left wing on domestic issues averages out to center.
Not that this makes any sense mind you. But neither does the fact that thousands of people continue to die simply so McCain and Lieberman can continue to feel good about themselves and never have to admit they were wrong.
93 Comments
Support this site!
Subscribe to the newsletter
Advertise on Firedoglake
Send
us your tips
Make us your homepage
About Firedoglake
Troops
Home
NOW
Well, they have to say that they need a “success strategy”. No matter how awful the war is for everyone else, it’s still very profitable for McCain and Lieberman’s corporate masters. So they have to do these kinds of mental and verbal gymnastics in order to please those who own their souls.
Troops Home NOW is the “road away from disaster.” The people voted, the war is OVER. Americans do not want this unconceived ill-advised occupation. Incidentally (not that we’ve ever taken their wishes into account) neither do Iraqis.
The motivation to “continue,” to “win,” to achieve “victory” is entirely oil-profit-driven.
Troops
Home
NOW
Centrist?
When you move one goalpost in and move the other one way out, the 50 yard line isn’t much the center any more.
Teddy … precisely!
all this nonsense about timelines and strategeries … just bring them home now.
Lord have mercy I HATE that son of a bitch Lieberman.
And just this morning I get an email from everybody’s favorite pro-war Senator, Barbara Boxer, to go sign some useless online petition to re-deploy the troops, yet another transparant smokescreen from the biggest Senate hypocrite of all, trying to hide the fact that she’s actually IN FAVOR of the war.
Bullseye, as per usual Jane. Lebanon is in real trouble too, thank you George Bush and the Rubber Stamp Congress.
My contempt for RGJoe will never abate. (hi punaise!)
Watching the Macy’s Parade on tape delay — I thought the Kiss Float was well-adapted into those Pilgrim man-and-lady bobbleheads that followed the Camp Broadway intro! *g*
Happy Thanksgiving!
Kerry’s words are taking on added weight with each passing month:
It is not just about a bankruptcy of ideas but the moral and intellectual bankruptcy of those like Bush, Cheney, McCain and Lieberman who support what has become a wicked war. It is about betrayal of young men and women to their deaths for the pride of stupid old men.
EPU’d last thread,
Good morning everyone.
Happy Thanksgiving. Did anyone here expect that we would be enjoying this Thanksgiving with a Democratic House and Senate majority?
Pach, that was an excellent post and I would like to add one more thing.
A commenter mentioned a few weeks ago and I wish I could remember the name.
The idea proposed by this person was that the only people that should be on the floor of the House and Senate are those people conducting the business of that house.
No lobbyists, no ex-Members of Congress, no one except those who belong there.
I thought it was a good idea then and still do.
Sorry I cannot credit the commenter but they will know who they are.
Jane, I just do not know how much lower Lieberman can go, I thought he was at the bottom of the barrel weeks ago.
Don Rumsfeld responds to Joe Lieberman:
Oh! Originally, you just said “strategy”! How were we supposed to know you meant a “success strategy”? My bad.
John Casper #7,
That’s a good point. Israel’s massively destructive campaign in Lebanon has profoundly destabilized a fragile democracy (You know the form of government that Bush is so eager to export.) Lebanon is on a knife edge. It could tip easily into civil war. (Boy, those guys in Israel certainly have long term strategic vision don’t they?) One more cabinet resignation or assassination and the government falls and then . . . who knows.
This is a day of thanksgiving but I can give no thanks to some of the cases of monumental and completely avoidable cases of stupidity I see in the world.
Lots of people flappin their jaws about Iraq- most of em politicians–claimin they have the answer..
Of course- there IS no answer–it’s a bad joke- like givin kids a math problem to solve that has no solution.
Most of what they are sayin is political and self serving. All bullshit..The solution that is eventually adopted will also be bullshit- framed to cover as many asses as possible..
Sanity is not possible after so many have fucked up so badly.
So is Israel pleased to have the region of fire? Maybe.
Like an unsolvable Rubik’s Cube.
this is mind boggling
what is the answer?
with hundreds of thousands of Iraqi’s fleeing their country, with each sect committing genocide against every other sect, what is left to do?
the rumsfeld “plan” was to assist genocide, actually train the death squads
that didn’t work.
you know what?
water is wet, there is nothing you can do about it, it’s going to be wet
we have broken Iraq, all the kings horses, all the kings men cannot put this egg back together again
these guys just ought to get a room. lock it. and not ever come out again.
another commenter, i think john from california, mentioned on another post earlier this week that the possibility exists for a mccain-lieberman “centrist” ticket. such positioning now would only add to the base-building such a ticket would need to establish.
the thought was roundly decried and dismissed, but i think it is a sound take on a prospective alignment. at the very least, it’s no less a possibility than any other out there right now.
This is so Vietnam circa ‘69 or ‘70. “More time.” “More money.” “More troops.” “Light at the end of the tunnel…”
Let’s hope it doesn’t take the same four years to finally get that this is a problem that can’t be solved with more American dollars and death.
There are two critical questions that must be answered:
Are more Iraqis going to be killed if we stay for five more years (say) or if we leave now?–and HOW many more…I haven’t read anyone who has a solid answer to that question.
The other question is- “How far do we need to demonstrate failure before americans are REALLY willing to accept defeat..?
Military defeat is caustic to the national psyche—if a sizable percentage believe that we gave up too soon- it will cause trouble for generations…
So the plan to leave should include a propoganda campaign designed to show that “we’ve done everything we can- an now it’s up to them…
The best solution is to have the Iraqis kick our asses out- and that may very well happen- that would dodge a lot of bullets. I’d pay em billions to kick us out.
perris @ 16
here’s the worst part
every single thing that has happened was predicted, and not by the fringe, but by the president’s most respected aids, from clark, to powell, to the generals in the field
there is no excuse, nobody can say;
“this is critisism in hindsight”…this is NOT hindsigt, these results were KNOWN and guaranteed by the presidents aids and advisors.
what is left?
are his aids telling him how bad this is or does he continue to tell himself everything is just ducky
And I think of all the times I tell my students that you can’t add apples and oranges. Silly me.
dmg @ 16
I have long foreseen the possibility of a four-way race in 2008:
a. Democratic Progressive Peace Ticket (two of Gore/Edwards/Clark)
b. GOP Ticket ( e.g. Romney/Rudy)
c. Theocratic Ticket (e.g. Brownback/Musgrave)
d. Unity08 (McCain/Lieberman co-presidency….)
This remains a clear possibility to me, and everything McCain and Lieberman say and do continues to assure me this might happen. If only their egos can withstand the close proximity of one to the other….
========
Who’s Next?
========
Great posts this week on firedoglake.
Where we were this time last year:
Bush still setting the agenda.
Rove still genius; “stay the course” a winner vs “cut and run”
Cheney still running foreign policy
Neocons still in charge; Iran is next
Hopes for Democratic Congress mere fantasy
Warrantless wiretapping not yet revealed
CIA Gulags not yet revealed
Abu Ghraib, torture authorizations mostly forgotten
Democrats with no spine
Who is Ned Lamont?
Things to be thankful for this year:
Jane, Christy, Pachacutec, TRex, Howie, Swopa and other guests
Firedoglake community
Democratic majorities in Congress
Rumsfeld gone
Bush in free fall
Cheney/neocons discredited
Lieberman/McCain being discredited
Courts pushing back against lawless regime
Additional things to be hopeful/thankful for this time next year:
Bush/Cheney/Rice/Hadley resigned in disgrace
US Troops redeployed out of Iraq
Iraq reconstruction beginning, with US reparations
Peacekeepers accepted by all sides in Iraq, Darfur etc.
Democratic congress behaving responsibly, doing the people’s businsess
Republicans/conservatives/necons/Lieberman/McCain in disgrace
The world has not stood still. We’ve made progress, except in Iraq. And we have a huge agenda ahead. I give thanks that we’re all here to work on it. Happy thanksgiving to all.
Four way race? Interesting idea. How long does it take to get on the ballot in fifty states?
rwcole @ 19
the solid answer is they want us out and we claimed we were doing this to help them self govern
that’s the solid answer, we need out, we need to allow all the other coutnries that want to try to obsorb Iraq to give it a go, we need to learn the lessons Russia gave us from Aghanistan
THERE IS NO MILITARY DEFEAT, the defeat is at the hands of POLITICS AND POLITCICANS
our armed forces COMPLETED THEIR MISSION, they were an UNQUALIFIED success, they were efficient, they were timely, they were professional, they were INCREDIBLE
they overthrew the government, eliminated saddam
THAT WAS THEIR JOB AND THEY WERE DONE A LONG TIME AGO
the president turned our armed forces into and occupying force, WHICH THEY ARE NOT
they are NOT a free police force for the Iraqi’s, they are NOT painters of schools, THEY ARE NOT ESCORTS, they are NOT the Iraqi corp of engineers there to rebuild their infrastructure
the failure of Iraq has to be born by the politicians, NOT THE MILITARY
THAT’S how America will stomach this tragic “comma” in our history
BY BLAMING THE PEOPLE RESPNSIBILE and NOT calling it a “military defeat”.
this is a political defeat
period
Teddy – I was just thinking along similar lines but with a variation … sorta my nightmare option:
Dems – Obama coz they can play him as all things to all
Repubs – Rudy plus someone hyper right
Unity – McCain/Joey
we have a lot of work to do!
The winner in ‘08 will be anyone Diebold says it will be. They let us win this one so that we would trust the vote and forget the issue of electronic voting but nothing has changed and we will get whomever they select.
rwcole @
24
I envision fractured state GOP parties warring over ballot line access and scraps of RedState Theocratic GOTV Machinery, while the Midwestern/Northeastern GOP split between Romney (because Rudy’s his Veep) and McC/L (because they are bought and paid for).
Jay @ 27
well great i can give up now *g*
teddysf,
i think rudy’s doa (one more thing to be thankful for today) and the theocrats are perhaps less likely to push on in 08 now that they’ve been smacked around in 06.
but i do think your #s 1 and 4 are feasible. (i so truly wish hrclinton would not run, but she’s been virtually anointed.)
these tickets might work to the gop’s advantage — you could see how the repugs would say, see? we’re the party of the center, they’re the party of the shrills — but that’s another discussion.
by the way, saw your lists of faves from earlier this week. there’s an awful lot to like in them.
I was going to give my contempt for Joe Lieberman the day off, but that’s just not going to be possible.
Happy Thanksgiving to everybody else, however.
The McCain-Leiberman brand of “independence”/centrism for the sake of being called centrist ought to be called by its proper name: narcissism.
epu’d ’cause I am not paying proper attention.
I feel more than a little guilty having Thanksgiving on a day when we are responsible for so much misery in Iraq, Afghanistan, Darfur, Palestine and so many other places where we could have done more good than evil.
scarecrow @ 23
My co-blogger at Needlenose just put up a pictorial representation of this turn of events, suited to the holiday.
Swopa @ 32
Yep. Nacissism is a huge part; another piece is pure cynicism — the ability to pretend you stand for one thing when you support the opposite, and the willingness to repeatedly lie about it so that you deceive people on all sides.
On this Thanksgiving, I am thankful I found this blog. Jane, you are a national treasure. Your writing is so good, it is literally breath-taking.
Swopa – those are too good for words! give Greenboy a cheer from here!
Guitar_Playing_Bastard @
6
Did somebody mention Barbara Boxer?
Happy Turkey Day, all!
OfT: Does anyone know how to use brown sugar in a pumpkin pie recipe that call for white granulated? We only have brown in the house, and the can o’punkinpie sez use white. Recipes on the internet that call for brown differ in other ways, yielding no conversion possibilities.
Can you spare me a trip to the new Food Palace a blockandahalf up Oak?
Signed, the Two Confirmed Bachelors.
So who’s got rubber turkey duty this year. Cheney’s staff denies that he’s in Iraq- so maybe it’s him- someone keep the fucker from shooting the rubber turkey!!
techno @ 36
hear, hear!
Teddy- shit I don’t know- I’d just throw it in cup for cup. Oughta taste good.
Teddy … you don’t want to visit that food palace? really? or are you just looking for enablers?
brown tends to melt more than dissolve so the texture will be a little different – beat it into the pumpkin mixture well … meanwhile, I’ll grab my magic kitchen book for more detailed advice …
you know, considering every prediction that the warmongers have ever made about iraq was 100% WRONG why does the continuing wisdom seem to be that if we pull out of iraq things will get worse. even people who want an immediate redeployment always concede this point. i think we need to start re-framing the debate and start assuring people that it will actually improve the situation. it’s not any more of a shot in the dark than the predictions of doom.
Swopa – I like the first picture; he always was a self-puffed-up turkey. The second picture could ruin dinner. Arghh!
But the transformation is happening and seems almost complete. At least folks are realizing that Bush/Cheney are the major obstacles to getting any rational alternatives in Iraq. A Newsday article by Timothy Phelps in this morning’s Sacramento Bee says,
“Internal strife within the Iraq Study Group, outright opposition from President Bush and Tuesday’s assassination of a Cabinet member in Lebanon are complicating the prospect of US overtures to Syria and Iran over Iraq. . .”
TeddySanFran @ 39
A firmly packed cup of brown sugar may be substituted for 1 cup granulated sugar.
http://www.epicurious.com/cook…..ry?id=4795
Happy Thanksgiving, all!
TeddySanFran @ 39
Hope this helps…
http://www.foodsubs.com/Sweeten.html
e.c.
To convince people about something that we don’t know the truth of sounds a little Bushie- doesn’t it?
TeddySanFran @ 39
I’m sitting here with Don Rumsfeld, and he said don’t bother doing any research or asking any questions — just take a guess and go for it.
techno @ 36
Yep — there are national treasures here.
Actually, I can only hope to limit my trips up the block today.
Thanks, siun and rwc.
Clusterfuck is pissed off cause Iraq’s gonna go talk to Syria and Iran- so NOW HE wants ta go talk ta Syria and Iran. Iraq ain’t sposed ta talk to NO ONE- less HE says so..Powerful PISSED he is-
What if Syria and Iran talk Iraq into kickin our asses out and arrange to provide security? THEN who gets the fuckin oil? eh?
Teddy – the one thing to watch with brown sugar is that the molasses in it makes it more susceptible to burning so watch the heat of the oven carefully ….
may I highly recommend to all – Polly Clingerman’s Kitchen Companion – a gift from my mother ages ago, the photo on the back cover alone may send you into hysterics! but I find all sorts of useful bits in it when I most need them
Happy Cooking Teddy!
TeddySanFran — the consensus of my two sisters is just make the substitution, a little less brown than white. Good luck.
Jane -
What’s your position on Darfur?
Are you more/less/equally concerned about the loss of life there than you are about the loss of life in Iraq?
Do you believe the USA should send in American troops to stop the violence?
Because you’ve got 64 categories of posts, and none of them are “Sudan” or “Darfur”. And my Google search for “Darfur Jane Hamsher” in the firedoglake.com domain reveals only 26 hits, all of which were commenters (none you).
Oone of my frustrations with liberals is that their only foreign policy seems to be to complain about whatever Bush is doing. And in most circumstances (Iraq specifically) I agree. But I don’t see many liberals rushing to send Americans into Darfur, which must mean they agree with Bush’s policy there.
Right?
PS gang – if you are not following Tommy Yum’s wonderful Care Pages for Esten – Esten has had some ups and downs but is doing well this Thanksgiving … now that is something I am thankful for!
Siun @ 55
Siun, got a link? I didn’t know there was such a place.
You all so rock! Our knowledge of sugar has never been so vast as right now. Re: oven, our little-bigger-than-an-EZ-Bake 1950’s Wedgewood-Holly hardly ever gets hot enough, so I’m hoping burning won’t be a problem.
Now on to my Butterball queries…. (*kidding*)
Perhaps the Food Palace will have those little ruffly modesty skirties for the drumsticks…. I’ve always wanted those on a turkey.
Sure think Jacqat!
http://www.carepages.com/
you need to create an account and then request the care page for Esten – just fill in his first and last name as one word.
What an amazing family they are and what a circle of love they live in … wow!
Siun @ 59
Thank you!
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! So much to be grateful for…I appreciate so much all of your efforts to bring peace and justice to the world (and of course all the wonderful snark doesn’t hurt!) I know great things will come to pass in 2007.
Teddy – Turkey is quite easy … don’t let the hype fool you. I rub the bird with olive oil and herbs or poultry seasoning … roast slow and cover in foil until the last half hour when you take the foil off to brown … check your turkey for weight and temperature.
but those little skirts sure are appealling … wonder if our 7/11 has them – no lovely food palace here and only the funny cigarettes and booze stores look open.
A student in my largest lecture class e-mailed me three weeks ago, writing that she would be missing an exam because of an emergency. Then she e-mailed me again, writing that things were getting more complicated, and that sh had delivered a child “early.”
She continued to miss class, and we communicated by e-mail. I finally talked to her on the phone late last Monday evening, after I returned from conducting a concert. Midnight Monday was the add/drop deadline.
It turns out that this young lady’s husband, an Army sergeant on his second Iraq tour, was injured late last month. She panicked and consequently delivered her child “early.” It wasn’t quite premature, and the five-pound child is doing well, but mom’s still in and out of the hospital.
We worked out a way she can finish the class – she had an “A” until all this came down. I’ll be thankful when she is better and her husband safe at home with their new baby, who almost became an unlisted casualty of this awful mistake.
Bring our troops home, NOW!
Sorry i never knew about the Zippers – what is Tommy’s last name?
And here’s an unrequested pumpkin pie advice – especially if you are using brown sugar ;) – a little grated orange rind in the filling – yum.
Kathryn – Maxwell
TeddySanFran – at least you won’t be tricked into using salt, as my friend’s teenage son once filled the sugar canister with salt when I was making the pumpkin pie there. At least he had to eat some of it.
What a waste! Do you have any idea how hard it is to get pumpkin when the nearest grocery is three hours away, by airplane? (That part of my life had me living in Kaktovik, on the northeast coast of Alaska.)
Connecticut Bob @
38
I may hate Boxer even more than HoJo. At least he’s made himself transparent to anyone who can see, Babs lies and throws smokescreens to cheaply try to hide the fact that she is IN FAVOR OF THE WAR AND WANTS IT TO CONTINUE.
ET! what a tale … we miss all the web of costs and sorrows of this war.
I’ve been impressed – again – by Michal Ware’s reports on CNN which humanize the suffering of the Iraqi people. His new report on a father searching the morgues for his son is heartbreaking and important for people to see.
John King yesterday – when they first showed it – said “gee, they’ve just been statistics before this report”
Just a quick drive-by, folks, before I dive back into dinner for 17.
Happy Thanksgiving, all. Despite the political nutjobs that drive us over the edge each day, we have much to be thankful for: family, friends, virtual friends, mid-term elections, and a country where we can call the President of the United States, clusterfuck.
Peace.
Now.
Swopa @ 49
ROFL, too funny Swopa. Alas, sad but true.
angie, I know how you feel. I’m making a very basic turkey dinner again this year, just as I have for Christmas dinner since this illegal war started. I’m leaving out the several groaning sideboard dishes of days of yore for better times coming when the world gets their shit together and stops the insanity.
Wishing everyone at FDL a pleasant Thanksgiving. Sharing it with all of you here is a wish come true and brings contentment.
You make your pumpkin pie with the sugar you have, not the sugar you wish you had or the sugar you might have at some future time.
Cooking is untidy.
We had pumpkin pudding last night made with tofu (not cream or evaporated milk) and only one egg. It also had Splenda brown sugar blend. No crust: no one at our house needs the salt, fat and white flour.
My partner will not get diabetes. This is worth it.
My partner will not get diabetes. This is worth it.
My partner will not get diabetes. This is worth it.
Angie … nodding and agreeing.
I had told myself I would take a day off from news and nets and all but the news comes early on the Beeb and reminds me that families in Iraq are mourning their loved ones today … so many, each day, so many
Happy Thanksgiving!
I was just wondering….if Lieberliar sticks his head any further up his a$$ will it come out his neck again?
Try to have a Happy Thanksgiving in spite of it all.
It is lucky we have such statesmen as McCain and Lieberman. Otherwise where would such great intellects as Richard Cohen, Ignatius, Mallaby, Beinart, Peretz, Tom Friedman hang their deep thoughts and original insights?
Happy Thanksgiving everybody! I’m listening to CSNY’s “Our House,” what a blast from the past.
Trivia: Did you know that the steel guitar part on “Teach Your Children Well” was done by Jerry Garcia?
lurkers’r’us @
61
Happy Thanksgiving to you! Good day to de-lurk.
Swopa @
72
Comment of the day.
Odd News:
http://www.metimes.com/storyvi…..1238-7848r
Teddy – If it’s not too late one more sugar thought. Brown sugar will add a lot of strong flavor, so I’d scale back as much as possible. If the recipe calls for one cup (which sounds really high to me) use 3/4 or 1/2. Most pumpkin pie is too sweet anyway and you don’t want to overpower the pumpkin taste. Good luck and Happy Thanksgiving to all.
Trying desperately to stay “on thread,”
Are hamburgers kosher?
Jane Hamsher @
80
How about “Let’s tear apart the right wing, then the left wing, then the drumsticks too…?”
You mean it’s after November 7th now, and it’s OK to be a warmongering asshole again.
no but it makws perfect sense
here’s my favorite music trivia stumper
Who wrote “I Don’t Need No Doctor” (from Humble Pie Rockin the Fillmore)?
No fair checking ‘the Google’
Oh, and our disaster of a Mideast policy does not begin or end in the cradle of civilization.
IMO, we need to keep a close eye on Turkey ( and not just because it’s seasonal)
and develop a realistic stance on Syria and Iran’s stake.
Neither is perfect, but both are serious stakeholders.
Syria’s ‘influence’ in Lebanon is problematic, but , let’s face it… Qatar and Jordon are not going to run the region.
Nor are we.
Nor should we, really.
sofistic @ 78
Dear Jane
It really is time you joined up all the little dots and begin to confront the fact that Joe Lieberman is so one-eyed for GWB’s Iraq because he is an Israeli first and an american second and he knows very well that greedy, gullible GWB was sold the invasion so the US would fight the proxy war for Israel.
It’s the refugees stupid! To turn a phrase here might serve us all to keep our eyes on the wave that’s now cresting across the Fertile Cresent.
The migration, and potential migration, of untold hundreds of thousands (perhaps in the millions) of Iraqi refugees to Jordan and Syria (and Iran to a lesser extent) is the unspoken fulcrum for U.S. leverage to facilitate our rapid exit from Iraq. Before I go on…I know some of you are wondering what about Saudi Arabia?…well that paleo-Sultenate will stay locked up tighter than a drum to inmigration (unless you count the sex-slave trade they are so adept at hiding), thus they will not be a player in the scenario I outline below.
Throughout history it is the transnational movement of sizeable refugee populations (those exodus that threaten a country’s national security and welfare) that provide the impetus for sovereign states to take regional risks. No rational player associated with the Fertile Crescent can ignore the likely refugee consequences of a U.S. withdrawl sans regional committments to a stable Iraq.
Currently, it is money (usually dollars) that buys an Iraqi family passage into one of these neighboring countries. That will change very soon (if it has not already) as the human wave of Sunnis head West and the Shiites move East (or South), both running from each other and the malitias fighting for control of center.
(Side Bar: Do not delude yourself that the militias are going to make a petrol-grab for the pipelines. They are well patrolled and too vital as spoils to the victor. Save that inferno for later.)
However, the second wave of refugees will not be the well-heeled, upper-crust, of Iraqi society. They will be the desparate and hungry, seeking to cross borders with all the motivation that fear, famine, and despair can muster. This movement will be huge. And, (take note here) it will be escorted by U.S. troops ordered to prevent genocide and mass starvations. Can you see it yet? The U.N. setting up colossal tent cities on the borders just inside Jordan and Syria? It does not take much imagination to picture such a ghastly scenario.
This pile of humanity is the fulcrum upon which our callous U.S. decision makers are now leveraging regional powers (and the U.N.). Watch the picture unfold in the next month. Our country is about to play a heartless (souless) game of chicken within the region.
Just in case you are wondering why Dick Cheney went to Saudi Arabia recently…it was to deliver a promise to the Sultans of Slavery that they would not be subjected to the flood. Redeployment, in this case, means: “Sure your Highness, we’ll guard your border.”
Edited Version:
It’s the refugees stupid! To turn a phrase here might serve us all to keep our eyes on the wave that’s now cresting across the Fertile Crescent.
The migration, and potential migration, of untold hundreds of thousands (perhaps in the millions) of Iraqi refugees to Jordan and Syria (and Iran to a lesser extent) is the unspoken fulcrum for U.S. leverage to facilitate our rapid exit from Iraq. Before I go on…I know some of you are wondering what about Saudi Arabia?…well that paleo-Sultanate will stay locked up tighter than a drum to in-migration (unless you count the sex-slave trade they are so adept at hiding), thus they will not be a player in the scenario I outline below.
Throughout history it is the transnational movement of sizeable refugee populations (those exodus that threaten a country’s national security and welfare) that provide the impetus for sovereign states to take regional risks. No rational player associated with the Fertile Crescent can ignore the likely refugee consequences of a U.S. withdrawal sans regional commitments to a stable Iraq.
Currently, it is money (usually dollars) that buys an Iraqi family passage into one of these neighboring countries. That will change very soon (if it has not already) as the human wave of Sunnis head West and the Shiites move East (or South), both running from each other and the militias fighting for control of center.
(Side Bar: Do not delude yourself that the militias are going to make a petrol-grab for the pipelines. They are well patrolled and too vital as spoils to the victor. Save that inferno for later.)
However, the second wave of refugees will not be the well-heeled, upper-crust, of Iraqi society. They will be the desperate and hungry, seeking to cross borders with all the motivation that fear, famine, and despair can muster. This movement will be huge. And, (take note here) it will be escorted by U.S. troops ordered to prevent genocide and mass starvations. Can you see it yet? The U.N. setting up colossal tent cities on the borders just inside Jordan and Syria? It does not take much imagination to picture such a ghastly scenario.
This pile of humanity is the fulcrum upon which our callous U.S. decision makers are now leveraging regional powers (and the U.N.). Watch the picture unfold in the next month. Our country is about to play a heartless (soulless) game of chicken within the region.
Just in case you are wondering why Dick Cheney went to Saudi Arabia recently…it was to deliver a promise to the Sultans of Slavery that they would not be subjected to the flood. Redeployment, in this case, means: “Sure your Highness, we’ll guard your border.”
“Don’t you know the rule? Right-wing on national security and left wing on domestic issues averages out to center.”
this promotes the lie about the right that they are strong on national security and the that the left isn’t. Nothing could be further from the truth.
.
“Leading from the center” is an oxymoron.
The center is a bargaining position, but it is not a leadership position.
From the New York Times Nov. 21st:
Couldn’t have said it better myself…