We'll all be dead by then

Ted Kennedy gave a marvelous speech in which he said we should begin withdrawing troops from Iraq now. He pointed out rightly, I believe, that the presence of our troops is part of the problem, not of the solution. I have seen elsewhere there is much talk around Washington about withdrawing our forces. This was discussed today on Capital Gang with virtually everyone agreeing that things were getting worse in Iraq rather than better and we should think about withdrawing. Some people report that even Bush is trying to figure out how to withdraw as quickly as possible. I admit to finding all this talk about withdrawing to be nothing but utter nonsense. Because, and not one person I heard today mentioned this basic fact, Bush/Cheney and their neocons do not want to withdraw from Iraq. Not without the oil. We are building fourteen permanent bases in Iraq. No one mentioned this either. No one! If it is true, and it seems to be, it should be obvious that talk of withdrawal is nothing but errant nonsense, balderdash, folderol, twaddle, blather, claptrap, poppycock, bunkum, and etc., etc. Why is no one saying this? Why does everyone carry on about an exit strategy when we know those in charge don’t want to exit?

This absolute farce of a “democratic election” is supposed to clarify matters. Fat chance. First, what kind of election is it when the people running for office are afraid to identify themselves and the polling places are announced only at the very last minute? And on top of that the whole thing is fixed. Allawi and his people will win because he’s Bush’s candidate and has already agreed to do what is required of him. He has certainly agreed not to ask American troops to leave. What would happen if someone else was elected and asked us to leave? There would simply be more violence and more American troops put in to make sure we were still “in control.” Let’s face it, we are not going to leave unless somehow we are defeated and have to leave, just as we did in Vietnam. We should know in a few days, if not before, what has happened with this so-called election. We can be pretty sure the Bush/Cheney spin machine, along with their controlled press, will turn it into some kind of victory. After all, no matter how it comes out, it was conducted under difficult circumstances. And the fact that an election was held at all will be itself regarded as a victory. If a full-fledged civil war results, which it quite likely will sometime in the near future, all bets are off.

Of course we should withdraw, and do so as quickly as possible. The neocons will just have to give up their insane plans for an empire and control of the Middle East (and the rest of the world as well). This whole disastrous episode was wrong from the very beginning. And those who are responsible for it will have to be held accountable. History will surely hold them accountable. But, as Bush so cleverly put it, we’ll all be dead by then.