Petraeus to McCain and Obama - Take Another Look at the Surge »
Posted By hyperbola 1 year, 3 months ago in NewsA s he leaves Iraq this week General David Petraeus is sounding far less optimistic than Republican candidate McCain about the American situation in Iraq. Gen Petraeus says that it remains “ fragile” , recent security gains are “ not irreversible” and “ this is not the sort of struggle where you take a hill, plant the flag and go home to a victory parade… it’ s not a war with a simple slogan.”
The Republican contenders have made their claims of success for the surge -- the American reinforcements sent last year -- although they are demonstrably contradicted by the fact that the US has to keep more troops, some 138,000, in Iraq today than before the surge. Another barometer of the true state of security in Iraq is the failure of the 4.7 million refugees, one in six of the population, who fled for their lives inside and outside Iraq, to return to their homes.
If John McCain wins the presidential election in November then his lack of understanding of what is happening in Iraq could ignite a fresh conflict. In so far as the surge has achieved military success it is because it implicitly recognizes America’s political defeat in Iraq. Whatever the reason that President Bush decided to invade Iraq and overthrow Saddam Hussein in 2003 it was not to place the Shia Islamic parties in power and increase the influence of Iran in Iraq. Yet that is exactly what has happened.
Read Full Story at counterpunch.com »
209 Views Share Story 4 Comments Report
Submitted By:
hyperbola
Military brat (14th generation American) with unassuaged wanderlust. By age 11, schools in four states and three foreign countries (in 3 languages). Left home at ...
Who Also Submitted: All »
RSS Join the Discussion
+ Add CommentComments So Far: 5 (view all)
-
100%
Candida1 year, 3 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
FTA: "The perception in the US that the tide has turned in Iraq is in part because of a change in the attitude of the foreign and largely American media. The war in Iraq has now been going on for five years, longer than the First World War. The world is bored with it."
Reply
How true. It would be interesting to know what percentage of the population is unaware that the war is still not finished. -
Neutral
chfsealth1 year, 2 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
It is clear that the troop surge was the right thing to do. It is even clearer that the situation in Iraq is far better than it was before the surge. Obama has been wrong almost every time he has voiced his opinion on this subject. It is clear that he is a total failure at foreign policy at every level and is totally inept when dealing with military issues. This man as commander-in-chief of our amed forces would be a total disaster.
Reply -
Add a Comment
Sign In With Your Propeller Account
Please keep your comments relevant to this story.
To create a live link, simply type the URL (including http://) or email address and we will make it a live link for you. You can put up to 3 URLs in your comments. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted — no need to use <p> or <br /> tags.