Sunday, May 04, 2014

OUR F..K UPS IN IRAQ

Election Day in Iraq. I can remember last election. It was pretty inspiring. Those "purple fingers". I  thought, "Wow, this might actually work." Bullshit. Looking at it now, I am thinking, "we could screw up a two car funeral procession." In Iraq, there is no decision that we've made that was not f..ked up. None. Doing away with the Iraqi military, the Ba'ath Party which was what little institution existed, are only two of scores of our idiocy. (Getting Saddam surely didn't give us any great sense of "mission accomplished).Then supporting Maliki. A crazy f..k up, any way you look at it. Honestly to think that Maliki would be inclusive and not be involved in major payback is stupid beyond means. 

I listened to Terry Gross interview Dexter Filkins about his article in The New Yorker. "What We Left Behind?"
I read it. Great/terrific. Like reading an "between the lines" history of our "fuck ups" in Iraq. (My words, not his). Very interesting which echoes  most of my own beliefs with one exception: Filkins bought into the absurdity of somebody, that we should have left troops in Iraq. Bullshit. What, in my view is crazy: we spent billions, maybe trillions of dollars, lost thousands of young Americans and for absolutely nothing. Young Americans who were fathers or mothers or could have been--sons, daughters, sweethearts. This is not some trivial cost of war that we are sacrificing: young lives for a government that wouldn't know democracy if it ran over them. Iraq is worst off than ever. The best thing that could possibly have happened to us is to get thrown out. Thank you Lord. Those who were the decision makers and have written books justifying their actions have to live with their stupidity. But, we don't have to accept their self serving, "Alice in Wonderland" perspective. We f..Ked up and we are going to be living with it in one way or another for a long time to come. 

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