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My
fellow Americans, this is the picture: the mud in Iraq is
all over our face, and the question: what is there left
for us to do? Withdraw like losers, empty-handed or send
in another 25,000 of our best men and women to get the job
done once and for all, let’s say, in another six to
ten months.
My
fellow countrymen we must send the world a clear message:
“we mean what we say and what we stand for: Democracy,
not oil”. This is, perhaps, the way our President
Bush thinks.
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After
all the mess, we could even agree with the President’s position
to send more troops and machineguns to Iraq, that is if the problem
depended on getting more resources on “the theatre”
to get this problem fixed. Now, if that were really the case,
but experts have said in their report that solving the situation
in Iraq does not depend on deploying more troops, and more security-warfare
resources in Iraq. Not many Americans share the President’s
idea to send more troops there, but President Bush believes he
can still manage chaos there with more resources and then pull
back gradually as the Iraqi security forces take control.
The issue at hand is not whether more troops are
needed or not, is not even how long it takes or the cost involved.
The key here is “credibility”, at home and in Iraq.
The American people, with the new US Congress, are not too comfortable
or seem willing to give President Bush another 6 month-chance
to fix or, at least, alleviate the situation in Iraq. And the
Iraqi people are definitely not with President Bush and his troops.
In fact, they are totally opposed. What would you think if more
foreign troops were coming to your country to manage whatever
situation, after years of almost total chaos?
President Bush is in a crucial moment, his credibility
is at stake, one way or the other. On the one hand, he cannot
withdraw empty-handed from Iraq, that would be too “costly”
for him and his bet on Iraq and, from a military-power perspective,
very bad for the US as a nation.
On the other hand, how can he convince that this
time around his 6-month or 12-month extension will be the final
punch to neutralize the anarchy that reigns in Iraq since the
invasion, and what about the Iraqis themselves. This people feel
invaded, despite the real intentions (democracy or oil) of the
US there. Their primary thinking is “more invasion is coming,
we must prepare, let’s call our friend Ubdulla for help”.
Of
course, I do not know what the solution to the problem is. I do
not have the slightest clue. What is clear is that the situation
is far from being “cool”. In fact, it is the most
terrible, craziest and violent scenario imaginable.
How
did we get this far into this mud in Iraq? And the more relevant
question: how, when and under what specific circumstances do we
get out of there? That is what we have to ask Mr. Bush and his
Administration. I am afraid, however, we simply don’t know.
José
Manuel
"Salarruepucá"
josemanuel@intipucacity.com
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