DNC: Today in Iraq: U.S. Says Violence in Baghdad Rises, Foiling Campaign

Maybe the General doesn't want to draw comparisons with Vietnam and Tet, but I do. No matter how many tactical fixes the US makes, it is still the occupying foreign power. That is why our position in Iraq is untenable.

There may be some countries that another country could conquer and not face this kind of resistance, now in the early 21st century, but Iraq is not one of them. This war has become largely political--not in the US, in Iraq. It is political resistance that fuels the chaos and the insurgency. Banging down more doors in the middle of the night will only make people more determined, not less.

Empires can't operate as empires when the people they are trying to add to their realms simply refuse to cooperate regardless of the punishment.

While the US has not annexed Iraq, has not called it the 51st state, the US IS actively engaged in attempting to control the Iraqi economy, and especially, of course, its oil.

The Iraqi people clearly reject that; they reject foreign control. While they may not agree on anything else, that's one thing they increasingly do agree on: they want the US troops out.

To say that we face a defeat if we withdraw is absurd; we have faced defeat for a long time, because the US should not be doing what it is trying to do in Iraq--or any other country--trying to control it for our own interests, or rather the interests of the oil companies.

We should get out as soon as possible and leave the Iraqis to sort out what their country will become: they will do it anyway, whether we leave now or ten years from now.

And by the way, trying to leave the country under the control of a nonexistent government controlling a non-existent military is our fault, but it appears to be beyond our control to change that. In any case, the "government" and "army" do not represent all of Iraq; they have been taken over by one faction.

It would be better to leave now, and establish a cordon sanitaire around the whole country. What the Bushers should be doing--perhaps they are--is engaging the Iranians, Syrians, Jordanians, Turks, Saudis and Kuwaitis, i.e. the nations surrounding Iraq, to cooperate in such a venture--to seal off the chaos.

We may not like what Iraq will become, but really, what the last 3 years have shown is that we don't have the power to determine what Iraq will become.

Maybe the US will have learned its lesson: it should not invade other countries, especially when they do not directly threaten us. When we do, we won't just fight them "over there," we inspire the terror networks and make it that much more likely that we will have to fight them "over here."

Douglas
http://www.roman-empire-america-now.com