Political Ranting
Jan. 16th, 2005 03:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
desertvixenI have enclosed the following rant in an lj-cut, for the people who don't care to be involved in such. The bolded sections are a news article, found at yahoo news.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/newstmpl=story2&u=/ap/20050116/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush
WASHINGTON - President Bush says the U.S. military will pull out of Iraq "as quickly as possible," but he is not endorsing Secretary of State Colin Powell's statement that troops could begin returning home this year.
"The way I would put it is, American troops will be leaving as quickly as possible, but they won't be leaving until we have completed our mission," Bush said in a Washington Post story published Sunday.
"And part of the mission is to train Iraqis so they can fight the terrorists. And the sooner the Iraqis are prepared — better prepared, better equipped to fight — the sooner our troops will start coming home," Bush said.
Powell told National Public Radio last week that he believes Americans could begin leaving Iraq this year as the Iraqis take on a larger security role. Powell, in his final days as the government's chief diplomat, said he could not give a timeline when all the troops will be home.
Bush said the U.S. military is "constantly assessing" if Iraqi security forces are up to the job, allowing the United States to begin pulling out. The president would not commit to significantly reduce troops by the end of his second term in 2009.
So, yeah. Don't try to dress it up. Saying "as soon as possible" and "when the mission's done" don't exactly go together. It's not something we can just pop in the microwave and be done with in under 2 minutes. Unfucking things over there is going to take years. Look how long we were in Bosnia. Even so, I honestly don't know if we can - or should - be in charge of unfucking everything. Obviously, I expect to be a larger part of the unfucking process after I get trained for my new job. I expect my husband to be sent again. I expect our friends to be sent again. I would be lying if I said it was something that didn't scare me, at some level. We signed up for it. I'm not looking forward to it, but I'm anticipating it.
Here's hoping we can keep the deaths and injuries down a little bit better if we're going to be there forever. I really don't need to find out that anyone else I went to school with has had limbs amputated.
DV
http://story.news.yahoo.com/newstmpl=story2&u=/ap/20050116/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush
WASHINGTON - President Bush says the U.S. military will pull out of Iraq "as quickly as possible," but he is not endorsing Secretary of State Colin Powell's statement that troops could begin returning home this year.
"The way I would put it is, American troops will be leaving as quickly as possible, but they won't be leaving until we have completed our mission," Bush said in a Washington Post story published Sunday.
"And part of the mission is to train Iraqis so they can fight the terrorists. And the sooner the Iraqis are prepared — better prepared, better equipped to fight — the sooner our troops will start coming home," Bush said.
Powell told National Public Radio last week that he believes Americans could begin leaving Iraq this year as the Iraqis take on a larger security role. Powell, in his final days as the government's chief diplomat, said he could not give a timeline when all the troops will be home.
Bush said the U.S. military is "constantly assessing" if Iraqi security forces are up to the job, allowing the United States to begin pulling out. The president would not commit to significantly reduce troops by the end of his second term in 2009.
So, yeah. Don't try to dress it up. Saying "as soon as possible" and "when the mission's done" don't exactly go together. It's not something we can just pop in the microwave and be done with in under 2 minutes. Unfucking things over there is going to take years. Look how long we were in Bosnia. Even so, I honestly don't know if we can - or should - be in charge of unfucking everything. Obviously, I expect to be a larger part of the unfucking process after I get trained for my new job. I expect my husband to be sent again. I expect our friends to be sent again. I would be lying if I said it was something that didn't scare me, at some level. We signed up for it. I'm not looking forward to it, but I'm anticipating it.
Here's hoping we can keep the deaths and injuries down a little bit better if we're going to be there forever. I really don't need to find out that anyone else I went to school with has had limbs amputated.
DV
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no subject
Date: 2005-01-16 10:35 pm (UTC)Mission Accomplished / Homeward Bound
Date: 2005-01-17 12:58 pm (UTC)First thing first.
If only we could do it SOONER we might be able to focus our efforts on Iran. Q! Q!
Again, my perceptions are warped by experience. I remember when the Army re-organized to close out operations in Frankfurt -- and the Green Party -- THE GREENS! Next Best thing to Communists -- protested because they felt they needed the Army there -- to provide Armed Forces Network Radio! The Greens didn't trust their own government and they wanted the AMERICAN ARMY to provide an outside, trustworthy, viewpoint.
It's time to leave when the local opposition gets all dependent and clingy.
Actually, if there's any lessons to be learned from the WWII European experience -- it's time to leave long before that.
But the WW ONE experience tells us not to leave too soon.
I'm glad it's not my decision.