"White House postponing loss of Iraq" -- Joe Biden

[unixronin]

Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said yesterday that he believes top officials in the Bush administration have privately concluded they have lost Iraq and are simply trying to postpone disaster so the next president will "be the guy landing helicopters inside the Green Zone, taking people off the roof," in a chaotic withdrawal reminiscent of Vietnam.

"I have reached the tentative conclusion that a significant portion of this administration, maybe even including the vice president, believes Iraq is lost," Biden said.  "They have no answer to deal with how badly they have screwed it up.  I am not being facetious now.  Therefore, the best thing to do is keep it from totally collapsing on your watch and hand it off to the next guy -- literally, not figuratively."

(Washington Post)

This comes on the heels of George Bush's announcement that he intends to send a further 20,000 US troops to Iraq.  (In this context, it should be noted that with units rotated out of Iraq leaving much of their equipment there to help supply new units coming in, it is highly questionable whether the US HAS another 20,000 combat-ready troops at this point.  I've heard it said that at this point there are no more combat-ready reserves left, period¹.)

If this is true, and the White House is sending additional troops to Iraq primarily to postpone a collapse that they see as inevitable and leave the next administration to deal with it, then it should surely be grounds for immediate impeachment.

On the other hand, consider who that would give us in the White House.

Still, it could be worse:  It could be Dianne Feinstein.

(Note:  This should not be taken in any way as denigrating Nancy Pelosi's becoming the first female Speaker of the House in the history of the US.  More power to her on that score, say I.  I just don't think much of the idea of having someone sitting in the Oval Office who not only supports the asinine and ill-conceived "War on Terror", but who voted in favor of allowing Federal, state and local authorities to confiscate legally-owned firearms during national emergencies that may be exactly when their owners most desperately need them.  Open letter to the liberals among our legislative bodies:  You may not LIKE the Second Amendment or the fact that, absurdly weak arguments to the contrary, it does indeed recognize and guarantee (not grant, just recognize and guarantee) an invididual right to keep and bear arms; but you swore an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution, so until and unless you can get the Second Amendment repealed, you're just going to have to suck it up and live with it.)

[1]  As lonewolf545 points out, the majority of those troops are going to be coming from existing overseas deployments such as Korea.

Comments

[lonewolf545.livejournal.com]

Your sources are wrong. We have combat-ready troops available in Korea, a friend is preparing for the possibility of his brigade being sent. Which is news he likes, he'd been trying to get sent to a unit slated for an Iraq or Afghanistan deployment.

There ain't a LOT of reserves, and there are some strains on the force, Rumsfield was wrong (although I understand why) not to recommend growing the military, but there are still some reserves left.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

I'm glad to hear we're not completely tapped out. I still don't think much of the idea of sending additional troops into an already-lost theater just to save political face, if that's really what's going on.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Actually, now that you remind me of it, the discussions I recall mentioned that pretty much all the remaining combat-ready units were already deployed overseas and would have to be recalled from there for redeployment. Korea was one location mentioned.

I can understand wanting to be redeployed out of Korea ... I'm given to understand it's a pretty unpleasant place to be in the field in winter.

[lonewolf545.livejournal.com]

They wouldn't be recalled from Korea, they'd go directly from Korea to Iraq. One brigade from Korea has already done this. Honestly, we've been drawing down forces in Korea for a while, the only reason we have forces there is as a tripwire so that North Korea knows that if they attack, the US WILL be involved. But other than an attack with weapons of mass destruction, South Korea's military can handle anything the North Koreans have.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

*nod*

I find myself wondering at times how much longer North Korea can hang on, really.

[lonewolf545.livejournal.com]

They're frantic. Restrictions on access to the international banking system have handicapped the regime, particularly making it difficult to move drug and counterfeiting proceeds. Rumors are that they've been selling off parts of their gold reserves. Once those are gone, no more money. Which is a large part of why they've been pursuing a nuclear weapons program, so they can blackmail South Korea and Japan to keep sending them money. Of course, that means Japan is starting to make noise about how their Constitution may not necessarily preclude having nuclear weapons of their own, for defensive purposes, which means the Chinese aren't happy...

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Luxembourg is next to go,
And (who knows?) maybe Monaco.
We'll try to stay serene and calm
When Alabama gets the bomb.... (http://www.stlyrics.com/songs/t/tomlehrer3903/whosnext185504.html)

[sierra-nevada.livejournal.com]

They all hate us anyhow / so let's drop the big one now... (http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/blastfromthepast/politicalscience.htm)

[ithildae.livejournal.com]

They have been playing the rest of the world for patsies for quite some time now. I don't see that stopping. For some inscrutable reason, China is still firmly supporting the regime, until that stops, we are stuck with them.

[lonewolf545.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm not claiming that's the ONLY place they'll come from, or even the first place they'll come from. The 101st, 75th, and 82nd are all designed for rapid deployment, if somebody decides we need more troops there "right now", they'll be sent first, then replaced by other units later. Yes, I know, the 101st just came back from Iraq, they'd still likely be sent.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Well, I did say "such as Korea". :) I didn't for one moment think you were suggesting that would be the only source.

[jilara.livejournal.com]

Can you say "draft"? Sure you can. And won't the draft riots be fun. I am reminded not of Nam but of the American Civil War. At least then they had the option that you could pay to get out of having to serve.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

It's possibly no coincidence that they just tested the Selective Service machines.

[lonewolf545.livejournal.com]

I can. I can also say "stupid". The Army doesn't want OR NEED a draft. All they have to do if they wanted to add 100,000 troops (if Congress gave them the money) would be to relax the enlistment standards to what they were in 1989, before all of the big defense cuts. The Army doesn't WANT to do that just because the current force is so effective BECAUSE it's so selective. Most people in the applicable age ranges are not in good enough physical condition or educated/intelligent enough to meet the current standards.

A simple way to increase the potential recruit pool would be to reinstitute 'fat boy' platoons, where a recruit who didn't meet the required height/weight/fitness standards would go through a weight loss and physical fitness program to get them ready to participate on an equal basis in Basic Training. Fixing the education system is outside the scope of military control, the same goes for reducing the number of kids on mind-altering substances, to include prescribed psychoactives.

The only people talking about a draft are the ones who opposed the war from the beginning and are using scare talk to build emotion against it.

[jilara.livejournal.com]

I've also heard serious discussion that it's time to rethink "don't ask, don't tell" and realize that sexual orientation has very little to do with the effectiveness of a soldier.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

About bloody time, if you want my opinion.

[lonewolf545.livejournal.com]

It'll eventually be changed, the culture of the troops currently in the Army is much less uptight about the issue than it was fifteen years ago. But it's still not, at least in the Infantry, overly gay-friendly. "Beats f***ing a dude" is an expression my brother has related as being popular with the troops where he is.

[zaitcev.livejournal.com]

Standards for recruits were raised considerably since 1991, which is why the army is 2 times smaller per capita than it was back then. Let all willing people to serve and voila, 500,000 new troops.

Draft is just the fantasy of Democrats, because they actually want draft riots.

[lisa-marli.livejournal.com]

The Terrorist Regime has set it up so that a lot of Americans would give up the entire constitution if it would keep them safe from Terrorists. There has been very little press about Bush's Signing Statement about opening our mail and most of it has been "If it will Stop the Terrorists..." Bernie Ward was talking about it last night. They all called up with that line and the "It won't affect me, I'm an American, not a terrorist." I just wish Bernie had asked them, "But what if they demand you guns instead of your mail?" Since most of these people are usually Second Amendment defenders. But he didn't. I don't think most of these people understand how All Freedoms are effected if some can be quietly shut down.
Pelosi is in a real bind. If she goes against this crap then "See, the Democrats are Soft on Terrorists." and the Republicans win. If she goes along with it, they lose the slogan and most of the people who would hate her for it vote either Libertarian or Republican anyway, so she doesn't lose.
Just don't take your eye off the Ball. It is the Republicans who are fueling this nonsense. They usually win when they can make us scared.
And I have a 17 year old son who is so gentle, he should never ever go anywhere near the military. I pray there is alternative service which keeps him away from war (medic on the war front doesn't count). If he does go, I will lose him mentally if not physically. That gentle. (No, he doesn't play war video games, he doesn't like reading war novels (flunked out of 10th grade English because of For Whom the Bell Tolls and All is Quiet on the Western Front)). That gentle.

[fruitylips.livejournal.com]

For accuracy sake, it doesn't come on the heels of anything. It is allegedly a leak of something that will actually be announced next Wednesday. Even since this morning, the rumor mongerng has decided that 20K isn't on the table anymore and it will be 9K. I'm sure everyone and their brother in the White House and the Pentagon is busy leaking their favorite version out. We'll see come Wednesday when it is really announced.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Well, OK, "announced he would be announcing" it, then. But whether we're sending 20,000 more, or 9,000 more, or 3,000 more, is really secondary to the point that IF we're sending more troops there to try and stave off a complete disintegration until it's Someone Else's Problem, as Biden (correctly or not) asserts, then that would be completely unacceptable behavior from a President.

Of course, Joe Biden could be completely wrong, too. (Like that's never happened before.)

[fruitylips.livejournal.com]

Actually, they only announced that W will announce the policy on Wednesday. What is in it, such as if there will even be a surge, is a matter of leak and speculation, as the article you linked to made pretty clear.

[zaitcev.livejournal.com]

It's not like we have a choice to fight the war or not. We only have the choice to win it or surrender to Islamists.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Sure. That doesn't mean we have to fight it stupidly. Which, frankly, is what we did in Iraq: we went in without a plan beyond removing Saddam, without adequate on-the-grould intel, and without an exit strategy.

[jilara.livejournal.com]

And if The Shrub had listened to his dad, he would have known that was what kept JB Sr. from invading back when we probably *should* have, back in Desert Storm. But the kid doesn't listen to anyone, including his dad.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

He thinks God talks to him ... does that count?