Losing on Every Front

[Lasher]

"By Their Fruits..."
By JOHN BOMAR

Can anyone doubt that the war in Iraq has proved to be Osama bin Laden's sweetest dream come true? In his book on the run up to war, Richard Clarke, the counter-terrorism czar at the White House, immediately recognized this potential risk of an Iraq invasion. He recounts envisioning bin Laden sitting somewhere in a cave actually "willing George Bush to invade Iraq." Clarke knew that such a jingoist misadventure would play right into the hands of the extremists: It would allow them portray the US as an out of control Great Satan with a personal vendetta against the Islamic world and thirst for their oil. Bush's verbal faux paux in using the word "crusade" to describe the effort only heightened the propaganda bonanza for the extremists.

Mr. Clark and other knowledgeable war critics correctly foresaw our present dilemma: the US treasury spent and bleeding red ink, our credibility and respect lost to the world, our military stretched and overextended while fighting on two fronts, near civil war in Iraq, an unfinished job in Afghanistan, deep and serious divisions in our body politic, and immense international distrust of the intentions and motives of our nation. And worst of all, a great strengthening of the forces of international terrorism.

In his recent dialogue in The Nation, former head of the Middle Eastern Division of the CIA, Paul Pillar, reveals in substantial ways the abusive and deceptive tactics used by the Bush administration in their manipulation of intelligence to sell the war on Iraq. He also describes Mr. Bush's complete disregard of cautionary warnings about the post war conditions in Iraq, conditions now proven so sadly true. Pillar's confessions only confirm what many had already begun to accept: we were lied to in justifying the war in Iraq, the intelligence was indeed "cherry-picked," and the administration was ignorant of or did not care about the potential post war civil strife inside Iraq. So obsessed was Mr. Bush to make war on Saddam Hussein that he willingly played us for fools, and went in half-cocked with insufficient troops to manage the post war environment. The myth of a cakewalk followed by rose pedals in the streets and happy-ever-after demonstrates just how disconnected were the war planners from the reality of Iraq.

<snip>

If "by their fruit ye shall know them," then the present realities for the United States speak of leadership that has utterly failed in its duty to lead with wisdom, prudence and forethought. From the missed opportunities to identify and thwart the airborne attacks of 9/11, to the missed opportunities to capture Osama bin Laden in the mountains of Tora Bora, to the lies that preceded the trumped up war in Iraq, to the unwitting strengthening of our real enemies, to the bankrupt treasury and deep divisions within the US, this administration's legacy will be one of missed opportunities, fatal misjudgments, arrogant and short sighted priorities, reactionary jingoism, and delusional incompetence: Bitter fruits indeed.

http://www.counterpunch.org/bomar02252006.html

[izzie]

1. Well yar! But still Bush does not see it and he has the power.

Guess he is going to kill off every one he can to make sure he is right.

[KharmaTrain]

2. Things Have Been Ominous For A While

Before the 2004 election, I thought there was a possibility that this situation could be stabilized, but the American people sent a mighty "screw you" to the world when they re-selected the boyking and since then America's fate abroad, and especially in Iraq and the Middle East have turned from worse to "worser"...to a point where the damage will last for generations and hatred for America will be hard to erase long after this regime and its ilk are removed.

It's just a matter of time when the Shiite and Sunnis decide that before they kill of the other, they need to get the American Army out of the way. The role of the military as an "honest broker" doesn't exist...it isn't "pacifying" the situation and the "Iraqi Army" is nothing but a money hole that has kept the killing from getting worse...but those days are coming to an end. It's not a matter of if...just when.

[Tulum_Moon]

3. The people did not re-select him

The will of the people was taken away by machines.

[SammyWinstonJack]

5. Yep!

:banghead:

[Toots]

4. Bitter fruits indeed.

Truer words were never spoken..

[gratuitous]

6. Yeah, but if you knew this back in 2002 and early 2003

You were marginalized or ignored. And now, when events have shown us to be right all along, the media still can't seem to find time during the 24 hour news cycle to get folks on the air or in print who have been against this horrible miscarriage of foreign policy. "Liberal" media, my sweet Aunt Fanny.