Nowhere To Run (Renowned Military Historian Calls For Bush's Impeachment)

[Mark E. Smith]

After embarking on what has been described as the most foolish war in over 2,000 years, Brian Whitaker asks if there is any way out of Iraq for President Bush.

Guardian / Tuesday November 29, 2005

There is a remarkable article in the latest issue of the American Jewish weekly, Forward. It calls for President Bush to be impeached and put on trial "for misleading the American people, and launching the most foolish war since Emperor Augustus in 9 BC sent his legions into Germany and lost them."

To describe Iraq as the most foolish war of the last 2,014 years is a sweeping statement, but the writer is well qualified to know.

He is Martin van Crevald, a professor at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and one of the world's foremost military historians. Several of his books have influenced modern military theory and he is the only non-American on the US Army's list of required reading for officers.

Professor van Crevald has previously drawn parallels between Iraq and Vietnam, and pointed out that almost all countries that have tried to fight similar wars during the last 60 years or so have ended up losing. Why President Bush "nevertheless decided to go to war escapes me and will no doubt preoccupy historians to come," he told one interviewer.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1653454,00.html

Forward article by Professor van Crevald:

http://www.forward.com/articles/6936

[DoYouEverWonder]

1. Bush's Blunder

the biggest boondoggle in history.

[EFerrari]

2. If JC himself came back to set Bush straight, it would do

absolutely no good. The man is unteachable.

[VegasWolf]

26. Bush's Folly! nt

[OregonBlue]

47. Words do count. I hope all Dems start calling this "Bush's Blunder".

[wickerwoman]

84. Except how would you distinguish it from all the others.

n/t

[Spinzonner]

3. Because he's a dumbshit

with an overinflated sense of himself which is fed and festered by those around him for their own benefit.

[Oceansaway]

4. well said !!

[lutefisk]

15. Will that fit on a bumper sticker?

That really captures the essence of why the privileged fool is such a disaster for our country. That, and the fact that he has pretty much always been a complete a**hole.

[Hissyspit]

82. You can get something similar in the DU Store!

Also available on mugs, aprons, tote bags, doggy shirts and clocks!

[donco6]

24. That's the only answer I can think of.

Dubya the Dumbshit.

[KansDem]

31. Combine the two and we have "Dubshit"

The perfect word to describe W and this whole tragic mess. It could enter the common parlance meaning something like "FUBAR."

EXAMPLE "Well, this entire mess is pure 'dubshit!'"

[corkhead]

66. He's the AntiMidas!

all the gold King AntiMidas touches turns to shit.

[SpiralHawk]

5. "The most foolish war in 2,000 years..."

Indeed.

Who would Jesus invade? What would Jesus do with massive oil profits? Who would Jesus torture?

In his pious meditation, Mr. Bush should give these questions due consideration.

[EVDebs]

63. Gen Odom - Iraq is Vietnam, it's time to cut and run

http://sharon-jumper.dailykos.com/story/2005/10/5/14212/5722

" In his article, Odom says, "The wisest course for journalists might be to begin sustained investigations of why leading Democrats have failed so miserably to challenge the U.S. occupation of Iraq. The first step, of course, is to establish as conventional wisdom the fact that the war was never in the U.S. interests and has not become so," he writes ...

"I said before the war in February that if we invade Iraq, this will serve primarily the interests of two people: Osama bin Laden, because it will make Iraq safe for al Qaeda, and it will allow him to have access to kill Americans, which he cannot do in the U.S. very effectively; the second party that would benefit greatly would be the Iranians. Saddam Hussein invaded Iran, and they fought for eight years, and Iranians hated that regime as much more than we did. Therefore it was very much in their interest, and it is clearer now that a Shiite majority will probably end up in control in Iraq, and it will not be pro-American, and it probably will be an Islamic religious republic. "

[Al-CIAda]

6. Note to professor- Do some research on PNAC, then you will know. n/t

[glitch]

28. It's all about the loot and the bush cronies are doing very well.

They'll do well off all the coming civil wars too.

[sofa king]

7. I think Dr. van Crevald might be off a little bit.

Win or lose, this war hasn't been paid for yet. The people who have profited from it are going to try their asses off to shift the tax burden even further onto the middle class and the poor, so that we little guys get to foot the bill while they slink off with all the loot.

If the little guys figure that out, and find their way through the maze of psyops, deception, and election theft, there's gonna be a revolution.

I think that will make this war a damned sight more damaging than the destruction of a couple of legions in Teutoberg Forest. This country could be destroyed in ten years, rather than the fourteen hundred years it took for the remnants of the Roman Empire to finally fall.

[atomic-fly]

69. So true!

[AntiFascist]

72. Now you're talking...

the burden needs to be shifted to those who are profiteering, or else threaten them with imprisonment. Not a nice prison either.

[bemildred]

8. An older piece from Mr. van Creveld:

Why Iraq Will End as Vietnam Did

As Shakespeare once wrote, they have their exits and their entries. Between about 1975 and 1990, following the US defeat in Vietnam, military history was extremely popular among the US Armed Forces. After 1991, largely as a result of what many people considered the “stellar” performance of those Forces against Saddam Hussein, it went out of fashion; after all, if we were able to do that well there was not much point in studying the mistakes our predecessors made. Now that comparisons between Vietnam and Iraq have suddenly become very fashionable indeed, history is rushing right back at us. Here, I wish to address the differences and the similarities between the two wars by describing Vietnam as it was experienced by one man, Moshe Dayan.

As of 2004, Dayan is remembered, if he is remembered at all, mainly as the symbol of Israeli military power on the one hand and as one of the architects of the Israeli-Egyptian Peace Agreement on the other. In 1966 he was fifty-one years old. Having resigned his position as chief of staff in January 1958, he spent the next two years studying Orientalism and political science at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. In 1959 he was elected to Parliament and spent five years as minister of agriculture; serving first under his old mentor, David Ben Gurion, and then under Levi Eshkol. In November 1964 he resigned and found himself a member of the opposition.

Long interested in literature, a superb speaker when he wanted to, in 1965 he published his first book, Sinai Diary, which proved that he could write as well as fight. He was, however, developing an attitude of having seen it all, done it all; a feeling that his twin hobbies, archaeology and an endless string of mistresses, could only relieve up to a point. Hence, when the most important Israeli newspaper of the time, Maariv, proposed that he go to Vietnam as a war correspondent he jumped on the idea. The articles he wrote were published in Maariv as well as the British and French press. In 1977, by which time he was serving as foreign minister under Menahem Begin and engaged in peace-talks with Egypt, the Hebrew-language articles were collected in book form and published. In the preface Dayan explains they were too long to be included in the memoirs he had published a year before; perhaps his real aim was to warn Israelis of the consequences that might ultimately follow if they did not get rid of what he called “the blemish of conquest."
If so, unfortunately he did not succeed.

http://www.d-n-i.net/creveld/why_iraq_will_end_as_vietnam_did.htm

[NVMojo]

9. * did it fer the love of Gawd and $$$$$

[necso]

10. I'm not sure that's entirely

fair to Augustus.

Varus marched the legions into a trap.

But yeah, the ultimate responsibility rests with Augustus.

And do ponder the analogy for a moment.

...

We have to get the hell out of Iraq with all possible dispatch.

The problem is that the people who could make this happen won't speak up... at least not publicly and directly.

But someone has to be thinking about stewardship -- and salvaging what we can from this terrible fiasco.

And the idea of leaving military hardware (including those suicide bombs in waiting, trucks) to the Iraqis is just plain stupid. What? The "insurgents" need help killing us?

As for a regional presence and all that -- whatever. Just get the hell out of Iraq.

[Just Me]

11. Watch the radical right-wingers call this guy a pinko commie.

I'm so tired of their stupid rhetoric!

[brokensymmetry]

12. Great articles!

Important reading...

[mopinko]

13. nah, everything is going according to plan

they got billions salted away in the cayman islands, or wherever. that was always the real point of the war. $9 billion just pocketed from the provisional authority, plus all the oil they have pumped without metering. just about every antiquity in iraq has been looted, and many from neighboring countries have passed through the porous borders. everything is going just like they wanted it to.

[druidity33]

70. yeah...

i've been thinking that too... can't get it out of my head really. They've already got what they wanted. What difference does it make what we do to them now? Though i admit the schaudenfreude was potent for me when i saw Cunningham cry on TV yesterday... we should be talking about how to stop "them" before they start raping and pillaging next time. As a country we need to be talking about how to guarantee honesty within our political system. Maybe i'll move back to the commune...

[tabasco]

71. That's exactly right. The war was not a blunder at all.

It was an intentional duping of the American people in order to obtain corporate profits. It has worked very well for them. Cheney is raking in millions from his Halliburton stock (you know - the company he said he severed all financial ties with). The super-rich are raking in their billions too. They called them robber barons in he 1920's and that is exactly who is running the country now.

Congratulations to the gullible American people - you have voted for the people that only wish to pick your pocket.

[eShirl]

14. "Where are my eagles!"

"Where are my WMDs!"

[Bridget Burke]

22. Augustus cared about his legions.

Bush doesn't give a shit.

[calimary]

36. bush truly does NOT give a shit. If you consider the latest article from

Seymour Hersh - you see more that supports this. bush is ignoring all criticism and those annoying facts and realities that threaten to cloud his self-proclaimed divine "vision." He's standing firm, convinced that God is personally on his side, having anointed him the "chosen one" on September THE 11th, and that history will vindicate him in 20 years.

(snip)

Current and former military and intelligence officials have told me that the President remains convinced that it is his personal mission to bring democracy to Iraq, and that he is impervious to political pressure, even from fellow Republicans. They also say that he disparages any information that conflicts with his view of how the war is proceeding.
Bush’s closest advisers have long been aware of the religious nature of his policy commitments. In recent interviews, one former senior official, who served in Bush’s first term, spoke extensively about the connection between the President’s religious faith and his view of the war in Iraq. After the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the former official said, he was told that Bush felt that “God put me here” to deal with the war on terror. The President’s belief was fortified by the Republican sweep in the 2002 congressional elections; Bush saw the victory as a purposeful message from God that “he’s the man,” the former official said. Publicly, Bush depicted his reëlection as a referendum on the war; privately, he spoke of it as another manifestation of divine purpose.

http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/051205fa_fact

bush doesn't give a shit. Everything seems to be going along just fine in his myopic, sheltered, coddled, and completely screwed world view. It's what he THINKS it is. Regardless what facts and realities would prove to the contrary.

Since there is NO dealing with this rationale, allowing it to continue is untenable for our nation and our troops whom he's recklessly put at risk. The only viable solution if we're to "save face" at all is to remove him and his whole cabal, and start fresh with new leadership that doesn't subscribe to his world view.

[mrhopeforwes]

and how, pretell, are we supposed to "start fresh"?

We've all been saying that since forever, but the Dems were too full of their egos and illusion to just skip the primaries and let Wes Clakr have it. ...now the future is doomed even if you could wave a magic wand and put Clark in the White House tomorrow.

[mrhopeforwes]

56. and how, pretell, are we supposed to "start fresh"?

We've all been saying that since forever, but the Dems were too full of their egos and illusion to just skip the primaries and let Wes Clakr have it. ...now the future is doomed even if you could wave a magic wand and put Clark in the White House tomorrow.

[chookie]

80. The army is just a toy for him to play with

Every president makes mistakes, sometimes serious ones, but I have never doubted the patriotism of any of them, not even ones I have been opposed to. I look at Bush and try to see some shred of patriotism, some love of country and fellow countryman -- and it's just not there. Bush and Cheney are truly sociopathic about the suffering and death of our soldiers. Honestly -- I am not saying this simply to trash talk them -- I have really searched them for signs of decency, and have seen only attempts at deception. I don't buy the "Bush/Condi is a idealist" bullshit for a simple second -- Bush/Condi are cynical incompetent motherfuckers.

[samsingh]

16. bush and his neo-cons

started a criminal war and hundreds of thousands of people have died or been injured.

it is mindboggling. how could anyone believe his lies in the first place, let alone support him now. anyone on bush's side now reveals their evil core.

fuc* all the media, corporate, and other apologists to this immoral and criminal activities.

[Swede]

17. USA presence stuck in the Middle East for at least a decade.

This presence won't be like Europe or Korea,the men on the ground will have big fat targets on their backs,with people willing to die to hit them.


"An American military presence will still be needed in the region, he says.

"Tehran is certain to emerge as the biggest winner from the war ... Now that Iraq is gone, it is hard to see how anybody except the United States can keep the Gulf states, and their oil, out of the mullahs' clutches.

[wordpix]

18. way to go, Chimp in Chief, your profits aren't as easy to get as you

thought

[EVDebs]

65. Check out 'Greater Israel' map from globalsecurity.org site

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/israel/greater-israel-maps.htm

No wonder the Arab world is freaking out. And Bush's actions, designed to implement UN Arab Human Development Reports going back at least to 2002, are fully aware that the goals must be self determination, not imposed by occupation.

Murtha and Gen Odom of the NSA are correct, a strategic withdrawal/redeployment is what is necessary right now. Bush can call it whatever he wants.

[Briar]

19. How sickening

"Focusing on air power has obvious political attractions for the Bush administration, since it is the safety of US ground troops that American voters are most concerned about."

But it is air power which is far more dangerous for Iraqi civilians. Who cares about them?

[hvn_nbr_2]

20. Most foolish war

Well, that's probably a bit of hyperbole. I would think that Hitler's invasion of Russia was at least as foolish. But Dumbya certainly ranks up there.

[Art_from_Ark]

23. Philip's war in 1588 against Britain was also foolish

since it led to the destruction of the Spanish navy. Napoleon's invasion of Russia was also a big blunder, since it eventually cost him his empire and his country. The Czar's dispatch of his fleet to Japan was a HUGH!!11! mistake because of the disastrous defeat at Tsushima which helped to light the kindling for the Russian Revolution and the downfall of the Romanov dynasty. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was a pyhrric victory which resulted in the complete destruction of the Japanese Empire a scant 4 years later.

But the Thirty Years' War, in which a third of all Germans were eventually annihilated because Catholics and Protestants could not agree, has GOT to be one of the STUPIDEST wars of all time.

[hvn_nbr_2]

57. Thanks for your historical perspective

As I was posting (pre-morning coffee), I was thinking that there must be other equally foolish examples, but they weren't coming to mind. Actually, the defeat of the Spanish Armada (1588) occurred to me, but I didn't remember enough history to know if it resulted from a foolish blunder or just was the end result of a war.

But speaking of the decline and fall of empires, there may be a silver lining in this one. For the second time in one generation, a small country will thwart a superpower's attempt to impose its will on them. For the second time in a generation, Americans will see that chanting "We're number 1--Stay the course--Kill a gook/towelhead/whatever for Jesus" is not a form of wisdom and uber-morality. Maybe, just maybe, we can get over our hubris and the arrogance of power. Maybe, just maybe, we can turn the fall of our own empire into a net benefit for ourselves, not to mention for the world.

[wordpix]

21. restoration of Saddam was topic on an MSNBC talking heads show last night

I think, Chris Matthews. Talk was of Saddam's court case and how he might be restored to power in some way through a resolution of the legal case.

[truthnproof]

27. I Think Saddam Is Needed

Just because no one else is going to be able to run the place.

They will not accept whomever we pick.

They will not agree amongst themselves for a leader.

Saddam is in the running by default.

[TankLV]

41. You're all kidding, right? I don't not believe you. But is this true?

This is simply amazing if true.

That means that ALL of those deaths, by ours and Iraqis, were an utter and complete WASTE!

I can't even begin to imagine the implications.

If that is true, then it is the DUTY of every person to see that bunkerboy, cheney and all the rest PAY THE ULTIMATE PRICE for this debacle - THE ULTIMATE PRICE.

[daleo]

35. That's amazing

I don't see it happening, but the fact that it is being talked about in a sort of legitimate forum is amazing.

[Peace Patriot]

25. Kudos to Professor van Crevald! I hope wise people like him prevail!

And I hope he also helps to inspire new thinking in Israel. I've often said that the Bush Cartel and its Neo-Cons are no friend to Israel. Superficially, it would seem to benefit Israel to have the entire U.S. military machine drawn into the Middle East. (That's what the Neo-Cons are good at--superficial thinking.) But the Bushites have turned the Middle East into a tinderbox--and are idiotically threatening Iran, pushing them to obtain nuclear weapons to defend themselves. Israel is now far LESS secure than it has ever been. A true friend would have counseled moderation, diplomacy, generosity, long term thinking, and policies aimed at the welfare of all Middle East peoples--and a true friend would not have invaded Iraq, and killed and tortured its people. Diplomacy and peace are the only true security. Armaments and medieval walls are not.

But it's no mystery to me why the Bush Cartel decided to go to war--and shouldn't be a mystery to future historians, if there are any. Greed!

I think PNAC is window dressing--a way to keep certain parties on board, and to give the Greed Junta a veneer of having some sort of governing philosophy. It's just more B.S. The war profiteering global corporate predators and arms dealers decide how much money they want to make, and pay rightwing "think tanks" to come up with a "philosophy" to make whatever they want to do--kill people, steal their oil, pass bankruptcy laws that harm the poor--seem like a good idea; then get their war profiteering corporate news monopolies to promote it 24/7.

PNAC (Project for a New American Century) is a plan for a sort of modern Roman Empire, with America as Imperial Rome. But the Bush junta has no interest in governing, or in creating anything, not even a fascist state. They are just thieves and looters. Yes, they'll arrest and torture people, and play their Nazi games. But the purpose of it all is merely to steal--for instance, to terrify and disrupt Iraqi society so much that they can't hang onto to their oil rights. They are especially targeting the Sunnis, because they tend to be more educated and business savvy. It's so naked. They WOULDN'T BE DOING THAT if they had ANY interest in the welfare of Iraqis, in things working right in Iraq, or in enfolding Iraq into a greater "New American Roman Empire." In a real empire, the interests of the oil cartel would take second place to the stability and prosperity of Iraq. Not so to the Bushites. Their profits come first.

The Romans killed people in wars of conquest, but they did NOT deliberately antagonize local populations, after the war was over. They did just the opposite. They WANTED those societies in functioning order, to provide them with goods and services, and natural resources, and went to a great deal of trouble to create "Pax Romana," the "Peace of Rome," which consisted of many prosperous countries run by popular local leaders, with locals eligible to become Roman citizens, and with the Roman legends defending all, and Roman law, and Roman roads, and Roman LEARNING available to all--except for slaves and rebels. It wasn't pretty, but it WORKED, and resulted in widespread prosperity and contentment. The Pax Romana. Rome is famous for it. (And, as for the slaves--bad though it was--it was possible for a slave to earn his/her freedom, and to become educated and wealthy. We're talking about events of two thousand years ago, which we can't judge by our own history of slavery. The fact is that most people prospered.)

I'm not holding up the Roman Empire as any kind of model to follow. I'm just saying that the Bushites are not capable of creating an orderly empire, and have no interest in it. Their motive is GREED--further enriching a few already very rich people--at any cost. Short-term greed.

In Iraq, 80% of the people want us to leave. How does that build an empire? This junta creates chaos--as a way of creating opportunities for looting. (Katrina taught us that, if nothing else.) And, unlike the Nazis, who turned a ruined country around into a mighty industrial machine--and who were fanatical about efficiency and "making the trains run on time" (albeit to diabolical purpose)--the Bushites are DESTROYING this country. Our manufacturing base is gone. Millions and millions of jobs are gone. Now they're after our pensions and whatever we have left. They are looters and pillagers. The military hates them. So does the intelligence community. They favor toadies and yes-men, and purge out professionals, anyone who knows what they are doing. They DON'T WANT competence! And their blather about 'family values' and their rightwing 'Christian' nonsense is just that: blather and nonsense. It is a way to keep that faction on board, who are themselves full of blather and nonsense, and utter hypocrisy.

The Bushites let the PNAC-ers run wild, because the PNAC-ers are NOT professionals--they are ideologues, and ideologues running wild create the conditions for looting. The PNAC-ers don't care if a billion dollars disappears through Halliburton's hands. Some of them are in on the looting, and others are oblivious. They are playing ideological games, planting our flag in theoretical countries on maps on their wall in their posh offices in DC. That our flag is now soaked in blood, and is despised everywhere on earth, doesn't matter to them. They are parasites, using existing systems--our military, for instance--but they haven't a clue how those systems work, or how to run them. Their only ploy is to demand allegiance--loyalty oaths--and to promote liars. And any military built on lies, and toadyism, and loyalty oaths WILL fall apart, as ours is doing.

They don't believe in anything. They aren't creating anything. They know how to divide, but they do not know how to conquer. And this emptiness at the heart of Bushism will be their downfall (--as is happening).

This is not to say that we are not in danger of real Nazism--or rather determined and competent Nazism. I think we are. We already have fascism--control of our government and of our election system by private corporations. It is a peculiar modern American version of fascism, that works mainly through control of the airwaves-- creating an ILLUSION of democracy, which was done quite literally on election night 2004, when the news monopolies all changed their exit poll numbers (Kerry won) to FIT the results from the two Bushite corporations that were tabulating our votes, electronically, with 'TRADE SECRET,' PROPRIETARY programming code (Bush won). I've never see its like before. They put DOCTORED numbers on everybody's TV screens.

But when it all falls apart--as it is doing--and the financial impacts start to hit (which could be very dire), well, that's when Hitler started his rise, amidst financial meltdown and civil disorder (and the fracturing and failure of the center/left). (Beware!) Systems have certainly been put into place for an all-out Nazi coup--systems which have only been used opportunistically thus far, to fatten the war profiteers and the oil companies. The president giving unto himself the power of pre-emptive war and the power to torture were specifically aimed at the Arab world, to break any resistance to the Bush Cartel stealing their oil. Unless those powers are specifically disavowed (which Kerry never did), or are specifically forbidden by Congress, they and other outrages (such as indefinite imprisonment without charge) remain as threats to US--to American citizens. (Who or what is to stop the next tyrant from using those powers here?).

I don't think it will happen here, but who knows? The Bush Cartel is very good at creating chaos. Others, who ARE interested in governing--or some more efficient faction within the Cartel--might take advantage of it, to install an intelligent, focused, determined Hitler in the White House, to "clean up Bush Jr.'s messes" and Nazify the whole country. (I doubt if it will work here. That doesn't mean they won't try. With electronic voting, they CONTROL election outcomes!)

For the time being, the Bush Cartel has given war and corporate rule a bad name. They are being exposed for the thieves that they are. We have an opportunity, now, to retrieve our election system, and to straighten this country out. I hope and pray that we are successful.

[grasswire]

44. "constructive chaos"

It's an integral part of the code of Skull & Bones. Through the fog of managed chaos, profits are made. To understand Iraq and New Orleans, read about Skull and Bones.

[daleo]

46. Interesting analysis

Although many people might say all empires are fundamentally about plunder and greed, some show enough restraint to keep the structure going for a long time. I agree that the current mob don't have that level of foresight. And plunderers do sometimes set the stage for true ideologues.

[jaysunb]

50. Great Post !

:toast:

[glitch]

54. Hear, hear!

And an ovation for the close:
"For the time being, the Bush Cartel has given war and corporate rule a bad name. They are being exposed for the thieves that they are. We have an opportunity, now, to retrieve our election system, and to straighten this country out. I hope and pray that we are successful."

[Burried News]

67. A truly outstanding post. If these guys have shown us anything

it is that they are not done yet - they are taking a very long view and we must do the same. It isn't just that war in Iraq will last 10 or more years; it is the same case here, protracted war to root them out and re-establish the ideals of the Republic.

Perhaps a good model for what is going on here is Ian Flemings' SPECTRE. This is a multinational criminal enterprise which seeks to make the Nation State a mere fiction to hide behind - a recruitment tool for cannon fodder and that is just for starters.

[0007]

29. Good article Mark. The U.S. has no plans what-so-ever to

leave Iraq any time soon.

If ya haven't read this article, read it now. Let me know what you think, 'eh?

Did you ever live in Hondale PA?

Read It Here

[adigal]

30. Joementum needs to read this

He thinks Bush is doing/has done a great job. Just listen to him on Sean Hannity's show, blabbing away again.

[anotherdrew]

55. 'ol joementum is a first class FOOL

that guy is low as a snake, Gore never should have run with him.

[Seansky]

32. Excellent articles, depressing thought. Txs. for pointing them out.

[trackfan]

33. It was actually 9 A.D. not B.C. n/t

[Mark E. Smith]

49. You're right.

I wonder if any letters have been sent?

[alfredo]

34. be sure to send this to everyone on you mailing list.

draw attention to the last paragraph because not all people read everything that passes through their inbox. Reading the last paragraph may make them read the whole essay.

[pat_k]

37. A majority of Americans Agree. The time is now.

"Conventional wisdom" says Impeachment is impossible with a Republican House. Conventional wisdom also said we would never, NEVER, get a Senator to stand up on January 6th. Conventional wisdom told us any pol calling for withdrawl would be crushed by name-calling Republicans.

Conventional wisdom is often proved dead wrong.

A majority of Americans now believe he lied us into war.

A majority of Americans believe he should be Impeached if he lied us into war.

"They" really go for punishment.

If people start calling for his head, you would be surprised by the numbers of people you had written off as hopelessly deluded would add their voices.

If anything, our greatest barrier is "our side" believing "it can't happen" and therefore, effort would be futile (an immobilizing and self-fulfilling prophecy of course).

There is no downside to calling for Bush's head at this point.

The time is now.

Even if the House doesn't respond to the demands of the people before 2006, it would be a reason for people to "throw them out" in favor of representatives that will carry out the will of the people.

[Gregorian]

38. And we thought the 2000 computer bug would be bad. HA!

[liberal N proud]

39. Damned if we stay, damned if we leave

I say we send Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and George W. Bu$h to do some of the fighting themselves.

[liberal N proud]

40. Dupe - Delete

[Stockholm]

42. Vietnamisation and Iraqisation

Pretty good arguments.

[PurgedVoter]

43. This was an optional and engineered war.

I think the Professor is entirely justified in his evaluation.
This was not a war that was considered wise by the military leadership of the U.S. After enough generals were moved, marginalized and retired, the war was started. Our military leaders still held that the personnel needed to hold, police and maintain after the attack was MUCH larger than what was allocated.

The reason we attacked in the way that we did was because there was a PNAC theory that we could, with our superior positioning, maintain several wars across the world and keep the world under our control.

After the PNAC military theories were totally disproved, our administration continued in error. Apart from war profiteering, no one has gained from this war. This is a war that should have and could have been stopped at any point.

If you examine the goals of PNAC it becomes clear that this was intended to literally take over the world. This was intended to be the start of WW4, with assured victory by a small group of extreme wealth. It has become an example of daily continuation of error. The costs of this war continue in ways not apparent unless you put the pieces together. We have lost our technological, financial, and military lead. We have lost trust and goodwill. We have lost justice, dignity, and faith. Each day we continue we give more money to forces that cannot but cause us grief in the future. Mercenaries, terrorists, dictators, and radicals will all inevitably cause us more and more grief in future years.

[Uncle Joe]

45. Most excellent analysis, the professor is right on. n/t

[lovuian]

48. Bush will go down in history a failure!!!

as his father before him!!!

[trekbiker]

51. excellent.. Kick!

[savemefromdumbya]

52. 9 BC lol!

[redqueen]

53. Greed, pure and simple.

That's the only reason... greed.

[AuntiBush]

62. Yup.

Plain and simple: Greed, and lust for power, leaving all of us behind in the dirt.

Don't believe he cares about any of us one bit.

[redqueen]

68. Of course not.

Those of us who are onto his lies are potential problems... the rest are useful idiots, no more, no less.

[AuntiBush]

81. Really, redqueen.

Useful idiots, is right.

[enough]

58. kick

[Sparkman]

59. "Nevertheless decided to go to war exscapes me" belies an ignorance

of the most fundamental kind. Anyone know what more competant "historians" have to say about the neocon agenda in Iraq?

[Jacobin]

60. This is really worth reading

The disaster isn't what is happening right now, as bad as that is...the disaster is what is to come from this crazed invasion, as this guy eloquently points out

[AuntiBush]

61. Foolish. Powered by Greed!

I call for an "Impeachment," too! Worst President * Adm. EVER!

:patriot:

[Judi Lynn]

64. A must-read kick! Thanks a lot.

[BrklynLiberal]

73. Thank you very much for posting! Have forwarded to everyone I know.

[pinniped]

74. But, but, but, Condosleeza just said these things now viewed...

as mistakes will be seen as successes in the future.

[Faryn Balyncd]

75. amen

Unfortunately, Prof. van Crevald, in his Forward article, soon after mentioning the need for a "classic withdrawal", proceeds to advocate an apparently unending (albeit somewhat more limited) occupation.

[killbotfactory]

76. Bush is a terrorist

Why else would he help out Al-Qaeda and Iran in this way?

[truthisfreedom]

77. bush has a criminal mind. so do his cronies and his men.

a lot of people need to go to prison for this, unpardoned.

[leftchick]

78. an excellent find!

thank you! :)

[killbotfactory]

79. It's a pretty good war for Halliburton

[BenDavid]

83. Bush would have

marched around Jericho counter clockwise.....and the walls still be standing.

[cosmicone]

85. American naïveté is what caused this

We won the Afghan warby bribing a few warlords to abandon the Taliban and the war was way easier than we thought.

We thought the same would happen in Iraq -- afterall -- all those damn muslims are alike right?

That is where the pre-war statements of "cakewalk" and "they will greet us with roses" came from.

Unfortunately, the Iraqis took the money from the special forces and double-crossed the US -- surprise number 1.

Then, Saddam, being as bright as he is, converted his republican guard to a guerilla fighting unit. The American generals should have smelled a rat when Baghdad fell without firing a shot -- but they were too delirious.

Americans in power will always be naïve about other cultures, thinking in their arrogance that it doesn't matter. They will also pay the price.