My simplistic read on the Iraq War: Does this jive with you?

[Writer]

Essentially American forces stayed until the population of Iraq was cowed: that enough citizens died and enough fled the country. Essentially the population of Iraq was lessened to only its bare essentials - only those that could live under the force of American hegemony.

[tangent90]

1. I don't know, I don't speak jive.

...

[jkshaw]

4. I get embarrassed correcting this,

it's a constant mistake on every board I've been on -- jive for jibe.

[Writer]

5. Hi. Thanks for the correction. I didn't know that. n/t

[Jeep789]

2. Here is my take:

We illegally invaded a sovereign nation under false pretenses and based upon forged evidence. We murdered thousands of Iraqi citizens and tortured and imprisoned thousands more. We installed a puppet government that cannot survive once we leave. We bankrupted ourselves in the process. We are now in the WTF do we now stage.

[leftstreet]

6. "We are now in the WTF do we now stage."

Exactly!

Welcome to DU

[rurallib]

3. My simplistic read was:

1) Repugs wanted to start some war so Boosh could be a 'war president' and be re-elected.
2) They needed to interrupt the oil supply to drive up prices
3) They needed to piss away enough money that a liberal government could not even think about universal health care and maybe even be forced to cut Medicare and Social Security.

Iraq just happened to be a convenient target with a strong man who could be used to whip up hate.
ETA: I would say they accomplished their goals. One other big goal was to finally eliminate unions. Killing them in Detroit was a major target in this war.

[JackRiddler]

7. Recommend: Look up articles by Patrick Cockburn.

He'll tell you the story. He writes for Independent/Guardian and has had a great deal of in-depth stuff published in his brother's newsletter, Counterpunch.

Hostilities have subsided for three reasons:

1) Shi'ite ethnic cleansing of the Sunni has largely concluded.
1a) As you say, two to four million refugees no longer live in Iraq.

2) Iranian intervention to calm tensions between competing Shi'ite factions (Moqtada's army vs. Badr Brigades in the interior ministry).
2a) Iran is now the primary foreign political influence in the US.

3) Under pressure Sunni insurgency turned to the US for protection and accepted the real "surge" - of American cash to hire them "against" "al-Qaeda."

4) The government has signed the SoF agreement which spells the end of US occupation. Also, the Exxon-Mobil-Chevron plunder contract has been indefinitely delayed. So the Bush regime's objectives of gaining control over oil profits have failed and the Iraqis are now fairly secure that they're going to see the American invaders finally get the hell out after all.

In addition, I would guess:

"Al-Qaeda" was an intel front group to split the Iraqi resistance by setting off the senseless wave of bombings of civilian targets that invited the Shi'ite reaction, and that delivered all those who made the mistake of associating with it into the hands of the US and the Iraqi government forces.

.