PJ24
Active member
Bush Tells Iraqis to Govern Now
I like the message, but I think we'd fair better with the message if we weren't talking about keeping troops in the country for several more years at the same time.
The argument about national security seems weak to me, the middle east is already a hot bed of terrorist activities, and by our standards, there are very few countries we don't consider "radical" in the region.
I don't necessarily believe we should withdraw our forces from Iraq altogether right now. That said, I do think withdrawing troops from the cities and into the outer Northern, Southern and Eastern regions would be a good idea. This would force the IPs, military and admin to actually govern. The only time we need to go back in would be if the the government was at risk of collapse, or if outsiders (terrorists) were causing disruptions. This would also alow us to focus on the outsiders coming in with their little toys.
The Shias don't want unity, they want revenge against the Sunnis. The Sunnis aren't going to pull back and stop attacking because they don't see any reforms that guarantee their safety. And we are caught in the middle of it all, we're (the military) the teacher breaking up school yard fights.
We need to start looking at the current situation with fresh eyes, step back and really take a hard look because what we are doing isn't working. Things aren't better or worse, they're pretty much stagnant.
"I want the Iraqi people to hear I've got great confidence in their capacity to self-govern," Bush said. "I also want the Iraqi people to hear - it's about time you get a unity government going."
I like the message, but I think we'd fair better with the message if we weren't talking about keeping troops in the country for several more years at the same time.
The argument about national security seems weak to me, the middle east is already a hot bed of terrorist activities, and by our standards, there are very few countries we don't consider "radical" in the region.
I don't necessarily believe we should withdraw our forces from Iraq altogether right now. That said, I do think withdrawing troops from the cities and into the outer Northern, Southern and Eastern regions would be a good idea. This would force the IPs, military and admin to actually govern. The only time we need to go back in would be if the the government was at risk of collapse, or if outsiders (terrorists) were causing disruptions. This would also alow us to focus on the outsiders coming in with their little toys.
The Shias don't want unity, they want revenge against the Sunnis. The Sunnis aren't going to pull back and stop attacking because they don't see any reforms that guarantee their safety. And we are caught in the middle of it all, we're (the military) the teacher breaking up school yard fights.
We need to start looking at the current situation with fresh eyes, step back and really take a hard look because what we are doing isn't working. Things aren't better or worse, they're pretty much stagnant.