The Truth About Iraq

-

President Obama announced this past week that we would be sending 500 military "advisors" to Iraq to assist Sunni factions directly. This is part of our unclear strategy to deal with ISIS. I promise this is not a commentary about how we should never have fought the Iraq War to begin with. (See how I worked that in, clever me.)

Last year former Secretary of Defense Bob Gates was on the lecture circuit pushing his autobiography. Gates has been widely respected on both sides of the aisle, serving at Defense under both Bush and Obama. During the book tour he stated that Joe Biden was wrong about most things involving foreign affairs. In particular Gates says he was wrong when he urged that Iraq be divided into three autonomous regions with a  weakened federal government to represent Iraq on the global stage and to equitably distribute the oil wealth.

Joe Biden didn't pull that idea out of thin air. He pulled it out of history. The Iraq we all know is not a real country. It was created by Winston Churchill. Three distinctly different regions and people, Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish were forced together to make one country. These factions hated each other and they still do. Toward the end of his long life Churchill said the creation of Iraq was the biggest mistake of his political life.

Iraq would eventually become a brutal dictatorship, the perfect soil for growing Saddam Hussein. We spent trillions of borrowed dollars, lost thousands of American soldiers, left thousands more with life altering injury and destroyed the lives of millions of innocent Iraqis. For what? We then made some very stupid decisions chiefly among these was dismantling Saddam's military. Then we said okay folks make your country now, you're free, good luck. They said, what's that now? Okay we'll stay a little longer but you guys really gotta step up. Sure, sure we will.

Now we come full circle to confront the reality of history and the truth. What do you think the Iraqi Prime Minister just announced? Oh you're good. That's right, Iraq needs to be divided into autonomous regions with a federal government to address certain needs but vast power should rest within the individual regions.

So, Bob, it is you who are wrong and Joe Biden who was right and oh yeah that Englishman at the end of his life.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sacrifice

-
After a lengthy absence from live performance I found my self wedged in a seat at Theater on the Square in Indianapolis. The production was "Sacrifice" , an original and first play from co-writers Marcus May and Caleb Nunez. Both have experience in short films and a life long love of the arts. The play is about racial tension between two families, one black and one Latino. Leading the Latino family is Ernesto, a building super who's wife was killed many years earlier by a young black male. Ernesto, engagingly played by Joe Vanegas, cannot let go of this life altering experience and as a result has a distrust of African Americans and a prejudice born of pain. His daughter Ana, played by Brittany Crone, views the world through a different lens, one of tolerance and acceptance of diversity. She tries to soften her father's views but to no avail. Enter the new tenants in the building, the black family father and son Antonio and Trey. When Trey meets Ana sparks begin
Read more

The Day After

-
Well, how you doing today. Feeling nauseous? Feeling giddy with joy? Feeling like the Republic is now under the control of a Sith Lord? Feeling like the saviour of the nation has arrived? I guess it all depends on where you stand. I said in this little forum from the very beginning that Donald Trump could get the Republican nomination and go on to win the Presidency. I was hopeful that he wouldn't but never delusional that he couldn't. Forget about the polls which got it wrong and forget about the professional pundits who got it wrong and are still getting it wrong in their analysis. Trump won in the Electoral College because of rural America turning out in large numbers. As I write this Hillary Clinton still has over 200,000 more votes than Donald Trump and that number will likely grow by the time the count is complete. The irony is that the same people who voted for Donald Trump are the ones who rail against the Electoral College. Let me repeat again that millions of Amer
Read more

A Message From Kane

-
If you are a regular or occasional reader of this blog I am asking you to take a moment of your time, it's not like I'm asking for money though you know you should send me some, and leave a comment for this specific post. I don't care what you write, it can be 1234 but do it. This will provide me a better understanding of how many eyeballs are viewing. Thank you for your compliance. Failure to respond will result in a serious toungue lashing, which some of you would probably enjoy.
Read more