[Thomas] Ricks[...] says the U.S. will need 30,000 to 50,000 troops in Iraq for a long time if it wants to avoid a civil war that drags in the entire region.
My guess is that Ricks’ view will prevail. The military has invested epic quantities of money and blood in Iraq, and U.S. commanders don’t want it to be in vain.
That’s when you’re down big. And when you’re winning, you can’t leave in the middle of a hot streak. All these very good arguments evaporate when you leave the table.
March 8, 2010 at 8:18 pm
What Peter Beinart is trying to say:
March 8, 2010 at 10:25 pm
Good analogy, but where are the baseballs?
March 8, 2010 at 10:45 pm
Well, they do call that region the graveyard of umpires.
March 9, 2010 at 3:20 am
+1
March 9, 2010 at 9:45 pm
i want a shirt that somehow says this
March 8, 2010 at 10:51 pm
Thanks, great observation. We’re a nation of addicts, at heart, so irrational addict-thought like this seems perfectly sane to us.
March 9, 2010 at 6:18 am
Let me go way out on a limb here and predict that the same will hold true for Afghanistan when draw-down time rolls around. And Iran, Pakistan, or wherever else we invade, er… liberate, next.
And bin Laden? Anybody even remember that guy? Very clever marketing idea there.
March 9, 2010 at 9:48 am
I hope you are not right. At this point, I practice unqualified hope.
March 9, 2010 at 3:49 pm
I’ve never found hope and the government – especially where the military’s involved – to be mutually compatible, and nothing I’ve seen yet from Obama has changed that equation. I think at this point in our history that the MIC is pretty much calling its own shots and the pols are just trying like hell to continue the illusion of civilian control.
March 9, 2010 at 4:32 pm
But life and hope are inseparable. TO be sure, I have pretty much concluded that psychologically, 911 about did us in. We showed the world that one relatively modest but hugely spectacular military strike would have us selling the freedom and bravery we often claim our land is of.
I had hoped it was a passing fever (oogabooga!) but I believe the malaria is permanent and we will be lucky if our empire declines with no less grace than did that of the British, but we might as easily fall close or in to the hole in which Germany buried its worst self-delusions.
Ooh. I think I just passed eloquent gas? ‘scuse me.
March 9, 2010 at 4:39 pm
Lots of reasonable people making the Weimar connection these days. Could still go either way, but given that runaway inflation (and/or default, probably the first followed by the second) is now locked in long term, I’m betting 60/40 on the Weimar outcome. And just think, we’ve got Nukes too!
March 9, 2010 at 7:17 pm
Sorry, just gotta add these two, as it’s one of my all time favorites and I just saw it last night again on the satellite TeeVee. The second, especially, is SURELY the SINGLE BEST political statement regarding the nuclear age I’ve ever seen or could imagine.
March 9, 2010 at 9:35 pm
I can’t think of a major world power that hasn’t learned the lesson the HARD way: Napoleon(s), Hitler, Stalin and then some.
Britain got lucky and had Hitler looking so bad the world forgave them for India.
I fear it’s our turn. One simply cannot outrun history.
March 9, 2010 at 7:21 pm
OK, I fucked up (AGAIN!)
Here’s #2 again. Cross your fingers!
March 9, 2010 at 7:54 pm
For those who did not know, this theme was sung by one Vera Lynn, who was ALSO the subject/reference of some of the Pink Floyd, The Wall album lyrics. I had picked up on the aural “Vera” references previously, but absent a larger framework, had failed to connect the dots.
March 9, 2010 at 9:48 pm
does anybody here remember Vera Lynn
remember how she said that we would meet again
some sunny day
Vera, Vera what has become of you?
Does anybody else in here feel the way I do?
March 9, 2010 at 9:07 am
I am old enough to remember quite clearly the same “died in vain” argument during Vietnam. Your casino analogy is on point.
March 9, 2010 at 10:18 am
But if we don’t stay than the zombie slain troops will rise from the dead to seek meaning to their deaths which happened in vain.
March 9, 2010 at 9:46 pm
Zomberines!!!
March 9, 2010 at 9:51 pm
can you play that on your 360?
March 11, 2010 at 4:43 am
I just don my costume and muck about.
March 9, 2010 at 10:26 am
It’s also really spurious logic. Let’s have some of these commanders look up the concept of “sunk cost.”
March 9, 2010 at 11:38 am
Don’t forget the best-ever reason to never leave Iraq — to stop Ahmed Chalabi from taking power!
March 9, 2010 at 2:32 pm
I know. What crap. The guy has something like 100 supporters, and they’re mostly his extended family.
The pre-invasion neocon fantasy that Chalabi was much-loved in Iraq and would be welcomed as their new dear leader was every bit as preposterous as the most recent neocon fantasy that Chalabi is much-loved in Iraq and will be welcomed as their new dear leader.
But it is likely true that he has been an Iranian asset throughout. Which speaks highly of the pre-invasion plan to crown him King Presidente of Iraq.
Morans.
March 9, 2010 at 4:34 pm
Brad! Dude! You are THE avatar! The Monocled One! (Not Duopoled Two. No.)
March 9, 2010 at 6:11 pm
It is awesome.
March 9, 2010 at 5:37 pm
Some aficionados only LARP Golden Era Burt Ward Characters, it’s amazing that a health bill is a tougher vote lift then a war.
See how I just did that?
March 9, 2010 at 5:37 pm
Kahn Chalabi has always been Kahn.
March 9, 2010 at 6:02 pm
Here’s my question: Why is there a Peter Beinart? Or, why are there people who think other people should give a flying fuck what Peter Fucking Beinart has to say about anything?
And it’s not just Beinart; it’s all the fuckwit pundits who probably went to Wesleyan or fucking Swarthmore as legacy admissions, were automatically graduated, and then rewarded with awesome pundit jobs.
Fuck them all.
March 9, 2010 at 6:11 pm
I gather that when it comes to messengers you’re fully supportive of the death by firing squad option then?
March 9, 2010 at 6:20 pm
Beinart’s a messenger? Then he relayed one fine message back in ’02-’03.
March 9, 2010 at 6:32 pm
My bad. I was not aware of your history with said individual.
March 9, 2010 at 6:43 pm
After a perfunctory Google search, I think I’m reasonably up to speed now. Sorry for interceding. I’m your humble supplicant.
March 9, 2010 at 6:09 pm
http://politicalwire.com/archives/2010/03/09/beck_meets_massa.html
When I play ‘kill the old guy’ I always dress like PePe Le Peu.
March 9, 2010 at 6:29 pm
I think Glenn’s kinda cute, especially when he gets all childlike animated and shit. Big expressive eyes, cherubic pink cheeks, and that adorable little flat-top shock of Aryan blonde hair. Just adorable that one.
Wonder if anyone’s ever looked into what precious little Glenn does in his free airport time; although, I can fully appreciate why no one would want to know. Better yet, check that last thought. The HORROR indeed!
March 9, 2010 at 9:48 pm
The still shots on the vid portals are priceless, especially Massa’s monocle. I sense a fad coming on…
March 9, 2010 at 8:15 pm
I suppose this is all very interesting on some abstract level, but can I change the topic to something a little more pressing?
Specifically, I’m talking about Hillary Clinton and the ah little problem that no one wants to talk about: her vaginal odor.
I know it’s a touchy subject, but we can’t just continue to ignore this issue. It’s costing us diplomatically, both with friends and adversaries. The simple truth is, many heads of state are now refusing to meet with Secretary Clinton due to the overpowering stench emanating from her ah nether regions.
Several top diplomats and politicians have commented on this, privately. Just the other day the Romanian President was so overcome during a meeting with Secretary Clinton that he began vomiting copiously and in fact had to be hospitalized. He later died. All this of course was hushed up by the so-called “media”.
Whether its a hygene problem or a medical problem or something else, this simply cannot stand. Why, the other day Secretary Clinton appeared on television and I could smell her vagina *through my TV*. I don’t need to tell you that that represents a very serious condition, one that even industrial-grade solvents probably can’t resolve.
Quite simply, it’s time for Secretary Clinton to go. Before another world leader is killed. And I say this a loyal, lifelong Democrat.
March 10, 2010 at 7:53 am
he lives?
March 10, 2010 at 7:58 am
I want to see his birth certificate.
March 10, 2010 at 8:51 am
Never leave me again.
March 10, 2010 at 12:41 pm
Was it really 2005? Has it really been so long?
March 10, 2010 at 6:07 pm
Long time, no see.
March 11, 2010 at 3:54 pm
Bullshit we can believe in:
http://www.juancole.com/2010/03/mahmoud-and-robert-show-comes-to.html