CAN THE U.S. 'WIN' THE WAR IN IRAQ?
(Image courtesy of willieboats.com)Bush and the wingnuts are trying to make hay out of Howard Dean's remarks that the idea that the war in Iraq can be won is "just plain wrong." Bush responded by saying that the vast majority of Americans stand behind the troops and that we have a strategy for victory.
I seldom have the opportunity to say this, but here goes: Bush is half-right. The vast majority of Americans DO stand behind the troops. The other side of the story is, the vast majority of Americans DON'T think Bush has a strategy for victory. A CNN/Gallup/USA Today poll released last Wednesday night reported that 55% of respondents said they did not believe Bush has a plan that will bring victory to the U.S. in Iraq; 41% said they believe he does.
A less scientific poll on CNN's web site right now: Can the United States "win" the war in Iraq?
Yes, within two years - 13%
Yes, but a long haul - 24%
No - 62%
(109,454 votes)
Three cheers for Howard for saying outright what most Americans know, and believe.
Tags: Howard Dean, Iraq war, Bush, strategy for victory
posted by Motherlode at 11:09 PM
1 Comments:
The Russians can't defeat Chechnya with a much larger troop to guerilla ration and much looser rules on what they can do to people.
And the French couldn't defeat the Algerians. The indonesians and the East Timorese, the Sri Lankans and the Tamil Tigers.
The only really successful defeats of guerillas in the last fifty years or so have been against relatively primitive, agrarian revolutionaries like in Central America and those have all involved mass killings and disapperances.
The US government is not willing to do that, at least on that scale thank god, and it is not willing to triple the troop levels to what would be necessary to actually hold large parts of Iraq securely.
Thus, we cannot win.
Mike
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