Wednesday, November 16, 2005
3 for 1 Brings Total to 2078
As facitious as the headline is meant to be, it really isn't humorous. Unfortunately 5 US Marines and 16 'insurgents' were killed in a battle along the Syrian border. I am not sure that 'Operation Steel Curtain' will be very successful long term.
We send the troops in, with the 'assistance' of Iraq forces, to the border province and try to clean out the insurgent cells. Unfortunately the 'insurgents' scatter like cockroaches when the light is turned on. And once the troops pull back after the operation is declared a 'success,' the insurgents will come crawling back out from under the rocks that they were hiding under. (Sadly, I am not sure that is really the metafore that it should be.)
I also do not have any hope at this point that we are creating a truly 'independent' military. Aside from the allegations of that the interim government has been involved in the torture of 160 Sunni Muslims, I just don't think we can get a stable government installed.
My thinking right at the moment is that Iraq will likely cease to exist with in a few years. I really think that Iraq is on course for a division which, depending on what exactly happens will either destablize the region greatly, with an explination to follow, or really straighten things out.
It seems likely that the Kurds and Shia's will break up the country and tell the Sunni's that they can stick their mineral deprived dessert section up a dark place at a 90 degree angle to the comfortable. I could see this further destablizing the area as the Syrian, Turkish, and Iranian Kurds to begin the push to 'join' an independent Kurdish country. One thing that might be a positive is that perhaps that a deal can be struck that allows the Shia south to join Iran, and allow the Iranian Kurdish north to join the new Kurdistan. (or whatever.)
I think that my feelings on this situation are beginning to change.
Several other things I have heard on the news while writing this post.
1. A soldier was killed in Baghdad by a road side bomb. (That top total is now 2079)
2. The Prime Minister of Iraq has order an investigation of the above mentioned prisoner abuse by security forces. (President Bush's administration on the other has been fighting a resolution that states we don't torture.)
3. The Pentagon has admitted to using white phosephorous in Iraq.
I think I will crawl back under my rock. I don't think this is going to be my day. (I am dreading the possibility of snow tonight and that is seeming so minor right now.)
We send the troops in, with the 'assistance' of Iraq forces, to the border province and try to clean out the insurgent cells. Unfortunately the 'insurgents' scatter like cockroaches when the light is turned on. And once the troops pull back after the operation is declared a 'success,' the insurgents will come crawling back out from under the rocks that they were hiding under. (Sadly, I am not sure that is really the metafore that it should be.)
I also do not have any hope at this point that we are creating a truly 'independent' military. Aside from the allegations of that the interim government has been involved in the torture of 160 Sunni Muslims, I just don't think we can get a stable government installed.
My thinking right at the moment is that Iraq will likely cease to exist with in a few years. I really think that Iraq is on course for a division which, depending on what exactly happens will either destablize the region greatly, with an explination to follow, or really straighten things out.
It seems likely that the Kurds and Shia's will break up the country and tell the Sunni's that they can stick their mineral deprived dessert section up a dark place at a 90 degree angle to the comfortable. I could see this further destablizing the area as the Syrian, Turkish, and Iranian Kurds to begin the push to 'join' an independent Kurdish country. One thing that might be a positive is that perhaps that a deal can be struck that allows the Shia south to join Iran, and allow the Iranian Kurdish north to join the new Kurdistan. (or whatever.)
I think that my feelings on this situation are beginning to change.
Several other things I have heard on the news while writing this post.
1. A soldier was killed in Baghdad by a road side bomb. (That top total is now 2079)
2. The Prime Minister of Iraq has order an investigation of the above mentioned prisoner abuse by security forces. (President Bush's administration on the other has been fighting a resolution that states we don't torture.)
3. The Pentagon has admitted to using white phosephorous in Iraq.
I think I will crawl back under my rock. I don't think this is going to be my day. (I am dreading the possibility of snow tonight and that is seeming so minor right now.)
// posted by Little Wolf @ Wednesday, November 16, 2005 
