Oh, It's a Long, Long While From May to December
Most vlogs are as stimulating as watching caulk harden; this BloggingHeads episode with Robert Wright and Eli Lake, a little less so. But it's still a time suck, so Mickey Kaus' summary is the best way to get the info:
a) Lake makes it clear it ain't going to be over by September. "This is going to be a mission that will take several years, if not decades."
b) Our troops must always be on the alert for possible betrayal by the Iraqi Army soldiers they work with–not because the Iraqis are secretly terrorists but because they are susceptible to bribery, threats, or sectarian or religious appeals;
c) Some neighborhoods are vastly improved (Haifa Street) while others deteriorate and will need more attention;
d) opinion among our troops as to whether the war is winnable is "mixed," according to Lake … If we left now, he says, the Iraqi Army couldn't possibly withstand the onslaught of corrupting bribes and threats from the insurgents and terrorists. …
This is a point I should have made below—speculation about a Hagel/Lieberman Iraq plan is risible because it doesn't matter what a couple of blowhard senators "plan." The war won't end this year.
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as stimulating as watching caulk harden
Paging Herrick and His Balls!
Cut and run.
Then, in 2031, President Jenna Bush can make a reconciliation visit to the Ayatollah of Bagdhad.
Most vlogs are as stimulating
What is a vlog? Is this some new gay terminology that I’m not familiar with?
Never mind, just looked it up. Thought I’d caught a typo…
You win, Dave Weigel … this time…
Huh, huh, huh, “watching caulk harden,” huh, huh, “blowhard Senators,” huh, huh.
“””The war won’t end this year.””””
What the Iraqi civil war?
We are not at “war” with anyone in Iraq, we are trying to provide security, or “keep the peace” Isn’t that a policing action?
We are not at war with the sunnis or shias, yet they are mostly responsible for the violence. I guess one could agrue for a war against the terrorist, but how do you actually war with people who have no land, and almost nothing to take. War is the aquisition of resouces through physical means. Keeping the peace is a policeman’s job not a warriors job.