Lo and behold, we're 14 days away from an election and we're magically able to start defining timelines and metrics for Iraq?
If you've been stuck in last week's news, catch up: U.S. general: Iraqi security can take reins in 12-18 months
This coming after months and years of hearing that no timetable could be set because it would embolden the enemy! Heck, just 8 days ago, Tony Snow said, "We're making progress. I don't know. How do you define 'winning'?" And now we're being told definitively that the US can have just a minimal supporting force in Iraq. 14 days before a mid-term election which could re-draw the political lines and shape things for the presidential election 2 years from now.
Huh.
Is it any surprise? Of course not.
Some things to think about...we should be delighted that we're getting some semblance of "truth" from some of the people in charge. But given the willful ignorance (or outright lies) we've been seeing from the admin, we should be outraged that it has taken so long to come to this point. We should be even more outraged at the politically timed messaging we're getting.
And most concerning of all, we shouldn't be surprised if we get more of the same BS once the election is over. Afterall, the current political environment is one where policy serves politics, not the other way around. So 15 days from now, I fully expect to hear about "progress" and "staying the course" and "islamofacists" and stop hearing about a well-thought out plan to help Iraq become a peaceful nation.
I don't care of that plan takes 2 years, 5, years, 10 years, or 100 years. The problem here is not the amount of time it would take to provide some semblance of peace to the region. The problem is the continued ineptitude which our leaders show at every step of the Iraq puzzle. We went in there for purely poltical reasons. Now we're showing a way out for purely politcal reasons.
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