Insurgency in Iraq definitely dying

We have had troops based in both allied countries since the end of occupation. But they have not been occupation trooops for over 50 years. They are there to give NATO and Japan obvious superpower clout in their dealings with Russia and China, not to suppress local dissent.

The Germans and Japanese cooperated with the occupation, got their countries back on their feet, became steadfast allies, and welcome US bases. There were was no insurgent resistance. The people sincerely wished to change their governments and prosper in a free society.

In six years of Japanese occupation, not a single member of the occupying forces was killed and issues of security were quickly turned over to Japanese police, allowing the occupation authorities to concentrate on political and social reform, economic restructuring, reconstruction, and development. The German occupation experience was similar for the western allies, although the heavy-handed Soviet occupation forces did meet with some short-lived resistance.

The Iraqis are not cooperating with the occupation. They looted their own country and they are killing US troops (1,976 of them), allied troops, and each other. Tyranical strongmen rule every Arab country on earth, including our "allies" in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Jordan. These people have no concept of democracy and a free economy as we know it.

It is folly to try to impose western values and prosperity on a people who do not want it and are incapable of understanding how it it supposed to work. They have a lot of growing up to do as a country and revolution must come from within. And it will likely be an islamic revolution similar to that in Iran where western values were rejected in favor of islamic values. We need to let the Iraqis stew in their own juices. Thats the way they want it anyway. Any lives and treasure we expend there is wasted on people that are undeserving of our help.

Trying to impose a Jeffersonian Democracy in Iraq is a fool's errand.

 

I understand. Say that we don't just say adios and drop them instantly. What is the plan for ever leaving? How long is long enough? We do not have an endless supply of money, troops, and international respect to throw in this pit.

We hung around Vietnam for eight years trying to avoid the appearance of withdrawing and ended up quitting anyway because it was in our best interests to get out of an unwinnable local civil war. Why take another 56,000 casualties before making essentially the same decision in Iraq? We didn't lose the friggin' Vietnam war, how can you lose a war in which you win every battle? We just quit the war because the lousy Vietnamese weren't worth dying for.

Reagan was smart, he knew it was better to leave Lebanon than try to take over a place that we didn't need where the locals hated us. Clinton knew the same thing about Somalia. Bush 41 knew it about Iraq and declined to march on Bagdad in 1991. Sometimes it is just a better strategic move to withdraw rather than pursue a failed policy. It is not longer a question of war or peace. It is a question of war or endless war.

I say we give them one year to get their act together or we will leave the whole thing to them to sort out. Enough is enough.

 

The Iraqis are no more dangerous to us than the Vietnamese are. Even if we could turn Iraq into Sweden, it wouldn't help us anywhere else in the islamic world.

A fun fantasy, but it isn't happening is it? Another Vietnam is what is happening. Wake up and smell the coffee.

Iraq didn't attack us anyway, Afghanistan did through Al Qaida.You remember Al Qaida, right?