(no subject)

[eirias]

Roughly since the Iraq war began, my instinct has been, "We shouldn't be there, because the real national security issues there are ones we suck at handling, but now that we've gone and invaded, we'd be screwing everyone over if we left too soon, ourselves included."  So I've not supported any of the calls for an immediate pullout.  Three-plus years on, however, I am the pundits I read are still not seeing any improvement.  Like many Americans, my earlier "you break it, you buy it" reaction is beginning to be drowned out by a loud voice saying, "Screw it -- our incompetence is only making matters worse."

Here's an editorial by someone who agrees.  Thanks to trygve for the link.

The thought that keeps coming to mind is -- if I could see that we suck too much at nation-building to handle this national-security matter appropriately, why couldn't people with actual clue or actual power do the same?  I'm certainly not saying I could do a better job conducting a war (hell, I have enough trouble managing my end of our research team) but I think I'm entitled to expect a little honest self-assessment from my administration... aww, who am I kidding.

Comments

[drspiff.livejournal.com]

I'd agree on "staying the course" if we were actually living by "you break it, you buy it." The real source of growing disatisfaction is the realization that we aren't "staying the course," we're treading water. And we aren't "buying it," we're charging it on credit that our children will have to pay off. I agree with the idea that we should take responsibility for our actions. But nothing this administration has done in Iraq or internationally is about taking actual responsibility. So I think you're right. We should (to introduce another cliche) put up or shut up and do it soon.

[eldan.livejournal.com]

In 2003, when I got news of the invasion of Iraq, I wrote a long rambling post listing all the reasons I thought it wrong. It's been disheartening seeing how many of my pessimistic predictions have been borne out...

There's a paranoid voice in me saying that this was quite deliberate, given that plenty of people's interests are served by the "war on terror" becoming endless. I haven't quite lost enough faith in US or UK leadership to believe that, but sometimes I wonder.