This entry was posted on
Wednesday, June 14th, 2006 at
9:15 am and is filed
under It’s War! It’s Legal! It’s Lovely!.
BSSC – Foot Meets Bullet: He gave the sovereign Prime Minister of Iraq five minutes notice of the fact that he’d been granted a brief audience with his master. Whether Maliki had to kiss the great one’s feet has not been reported. Five minutes?
BSSC – Who Decides?: The last thing Maliki needed, just as a small ray of hope began to hint at its existence, was an unannounced visit by President Bush. “Thank you for having me” Bush told the Prime Minister. As if he’d had a choice.
See also:
LA Times – Iraq’s Pentagon Papers: A joint resolution referred to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) calls for the withdrawal of all American military forces from Iraq by Dec. 31. Boxer’s “redeployment” bill cites in its preamble a January poll finding that 64% of Iraqis believe that crime and violent attacks will decrease if the U.S. leaves Iraq within six months, 67% believe that their day-to-day security will increase if the U.S. withdraws and 73% believe that factions in parliament will cooperate more if the U.S. withdraws. If that’s true, then what are we doing there?
I think it’s worth repeating a ‘popular’ song from the trenches of World War I, sung to the tune of Auld Lang Syne:
We’re here, because we’re here,
Because we’re here, because we’re here;
We’re here, because we’re here,
Because we’re here, because we’re here.
(Repeat. Often. With Gusto.)
When you’re done with that, I want you to pop into the kitchen or kitchenette, make yourself a steaming hot cup of coffee or tea, and settle in for a long but rewarding read (in honour of a long but rewarding war)…
London Review of Books – Why read Clausewitz when Shock and Awe can make a clean sweep of things?: The invasion plan that Rumsfeld bludgeoned Franks into drafting foresaw a relatively small force rushing towards Baghdad at breakneck speed, swiftly toppling the Baath regime, and just as quickly extricating itself. ‘The Iraq War would be like a thunderstorm: a short, violent episode that swept away the enemy but would not entail a burdensome, long-term troop commitment.’ Underlying these expectations were three key assumptions: that the regular Iraqi army wouldn’t fight; that the Iraqi people would greet US and British troops as liberators; and that major Iraqi institutions would survive the war intact, facilitating the rapid withdrawal of all but a small contingent of occupying forces.
