Iraq is worse than ever - George Will

[kurth]

Bleakness In Baghdad
By George F. Will
Sunday, March 19, 2006; B07

... More than any presidency in living memory, George W. Bush's will be judged by a single problem -- Iraq, where on May 30 the war will be twice as long as was U.S. involvement in World War I. Today the impotence of Iraq's quasi-government is prompting ethnic recleansing: The government is too weak to prevent private groups from pursuing coercive reversals of Saddam Hussein's various ethnic cleansings. And in the absence of law and order, Iraqis seek safety in sectarian clustering.

< snip >

Civil wars do not usually begin with an identifiable event, such as the firing on Fort Sumter, or proceed to massed, uniformed forces clashing in battles like Shiloh. Iraq's civil war -- which looks more like Spain's in the 1930s -- began months ago...

Last Monday, when Bush again celebrated Iraq's progress from tyranny to December's "elections for a fully constitutional government," this was life in Iraq, as reported by the New York Times: "Shiite vigilantes seized four men suspected of terrorist attacks, interrogated them, beat them, killed them and left their bodies dangling from lampposts. . . . In Sadr City, the Shiite slum in Baghdad where the terrorist suspects were executed, government forces have vanished. The streets are ruled by aggressive teenagers with shiny soccer jerseys and machine guns. They set up roadblocks and poke their heads into cars and detain whomever they want. . . . 'This is our government now,' (a retired teacher) said, nodding toward Mr. Sadr's glowering face on television."

Conditions in Iraq have worsened in the 94 days that have passed since Iraq's elections in December. And there still is no Iraqi government that can govern. By many measures conditions are worse than they were a year ago, when they were worse than they had been the year before. Three years ago the administration had a theory: Democratic institutions do not just spring from a hospitable culture, they can also create such a culture. That theory has been a casualty of the war that began three years ago today.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/17/AR2006031701795.html

[LynnTheDem]

1. WORSE NOW than under Hussein. FACT.

Well done, bush & cabal & every invasion-supporting MFer in America. YOU are WORSE than Saddam Hussein. CONGRATS!

Stupid MFers.

[Erika]

4. Yep. Hussein was secular and fought off the Islam extremists

W suckered this country into war against a third world nation. Who gained? The world corporatists.

Who lost? Our troops, our economy, and innocent Iraqis.

[LynnTheDem]

11. Don't forget Usama bin Laden; he & his terrorists won the jackpot.

bush handed UBL his wet dream on a fucking platter.

[blurp]

14. Reagan was right!

Pitching Hussein against Iran was one thing Reagan had right. Hussein, as bad as he was, is still better than a bunch of suicidal religious nut jobs.

Now these suicidal nut jobs are going to have the bomb. And what can we do? We're stuck in Iraq. A place that apparently needed the firm hand of a Hussein.

[bluerum]

2. Democracy takes time George. Lets throw another trillion

dollars or so at it and see if that helps.

What do you guys think? Best democracy money can buy.



on edit: Sarcastic quip about buying democracy.

[GrumpyGreg]

3. And this is from George Will---wow !

[Erika]

5. Yep. The conservatives are backing off from their support of W

They were the biggest enabler of W and this insane war along with the bushbots, and now they are running from W with their tails tucked in between they're legs. Just like Livingston did during the W impeachment.

[DBoon]

7. The rats are first to leave a sinking ship

Wasn't George Will the one who compared Bush's 2nd inauguration to a "banana republic military parade"?

[blurp]

13. He's one of the "Old time" conservatives, that's why.

The more time goes on, the more I realize there is a split in the Republican party and conservative movement.

The old-timer conservatives are libertarian and you can actually have an intelligent debate with these folks over political philosophy, the legitimate role of government, etc.

But the neocons are true right-wing theocrats. They don't bother thinking about political philosophies, or providing good arguments for their positions. They support the great leader no matter what.

[moondust]

15. He's been embarassed by this war from the beginning.

He has known all along that you simply cannot go around invading other countries based on some vague trumped up threat that never materializes. Odd to see a right winger with a reality-based assessment.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

6. And I assume the fact that there's less electricity, fresh water, bridges,

roads, and affordable gasoline than before the invasion, and that despite a cost of hundreds of billions of dollars to the U.S. taxpayer the infrastructure in Iraq is still in a shambles...none of that is helping to ease the unrest in that unfortunate country.

[LynnTheDem]

12. That yep...and likely the genocide America is committing in Iraq.

285,000+ murdered would be a huge dent in the US population...the Iraqi population was a fraction of America's.

America; committing a 911 attack on the people of Iraq every WEEK.

Gee, wonder why they don't love us.

[Old and In the Way]

8. No one could have anticipated this happening, right George?

I know you and your Washington, inside-the-beltway talking head cronies were raising all kinds of warnings, before the boy-king took us into this elective war.



:sarcasm:

[Hardrada]

9. To be fair, George Will was never a big buddy of Bushco

ever since he referred to Bush I as a lapdog in the Reagan regime. The Big Blue Dress, I assume, has hated him ever since.

[upi402]

10. George Will is a traitor and has betrayed democracy

fuck that whale shit!

[Disturbed]

16. Most Conservatives are not pleased with...

the Bush Neo Fascist Regime. The Rethugs in Congress went along to get along as did many Dems. Now that the truth is slowly but finally seeping through in spite of the RW Media Corps the tide is turning against shrub, cheney and the Neo Fascist Cabal.