Paul Krugman: It's time to leave

[Gasping4Truth]

Representative John Murtha's speech calling for a quick departure from Iraq
was full of passion, but it was also serious and specific in a way rarely
seen on the other side of the debate. President Bush and his apologists
speak in vague generalities about staying the course and finishing the job.
But Mr. Murtha spoke of mounting casualties and lagging recruiting, the
rising frequency of insurgent attacks, stagnant oil production and lack of
clean water.

The fact is that we're not going to stay in Iraq until we achieve victory,
whatever that means in this context. At most, we'll stay until the American
military can take no more.

Pessimists think that Iraq will fall into chaos whenever we leave. If so,
we're better off leaving sooner rather than later. As a Marine officer
quoted by James Fallows in the current Atlantic Monthly puts it, "We can
lose in Iraq and destroy our Army, or we can just lose."

The only way to justify staying in Iraq is to make the case that stretching
the U.S. army to its breaking point will buy time for something good to
happen. I don't think you can make that case convincingly. So Mr. Murtha is
right: it's time to leave.

http://select.nytimes.com/2005/11/21/opinion/21krugman.html&OP=32a9b943Q2FQ27Q221Q3AQ27Do9Q5EQ5EDQ27mQ2FQ2FQ3CQ27Q3EQ3EQ27mQ3EQ27Q5EEwYwQ5EYQ27mQ3EZ9fFdgYQ2AzDdp">TimesSelect link

Free link

[edhopper]

1. Hard to disagree

with Mr. K. Of course anything that is true and obvious, this WH will do the opposite!

[abluelady]

3. Isn't that the truth?

He is truly one of my heroes. I think the same way he does but cannot begin to say it as eloquently.

[Inland]

2. Kick. Gotta read Krugman. nt

[cliss]

4. That's a great point & I never thought of that

If Iraq is going to fall into chaos, then why not leave now? It's an excellent arguing point against the White House line, "If we leave now, Iraq will fall into chaos". As if it isn't chaos now. What a farcical statement.

Here's another point that Stan Goff made: our troops belong to the Americans. They should be used for our country's defense, not wars of choice, in particular not wars for oil interests.

Goff says that we need to bring our troops home, because they belong to us. True words spoken.

[K-W]

5. And the next step in that argument

is explaining how the US occupation plays various groups against each other and is in the process of arming some groups and not others meaning that the longer we stay the bloodier the civil war may be.

Whatever structures develop under the occupation, even if they cause occupational stability will cease to function the same when the occupation ends, and it is very possible that such structures could increase the instability after the occupation.

Stability under occupation and genuine national stability are two completely different things that the Bush administration wants to equate.