George Bush's War

Here a bit from an article in the NY Times about the latest twist in Iraq:

Sunnis in Iraq Allied With U.S. Rejoin Rebels

By TIMOTHY WILLIAMS and DURAID ADNAN
Published: October 16, 2010

BAQUBA, Iraq — Members of United States-allied Awakening Councils have quit or been dismissed from their positions in significant numbers in recent months, prey to an intensive recruitment campaign by the Sunni insurgency, according to government officials, current and former members of the Awakening and insurgents.

...

As of July, less than half — 41,000 of 94,000 — of the Awakening’s fighters had been offered jobs by the government, according to the United States Defense Department. Much of the employment has been temporary and involved menial labor. The government has hired only about 9,000 Awakening members for the security forces, with officials blaming budget constraints.

Leaders of the Awakening, who so far do not appear to be among those leaving, say they are not surprised about the defections given what they call the group’s marginalization by the government and its abandonment by the American military.

So much for (a) the "brilliance" of George Bush's surge which supposedly solved the insurgency problem by using the Sunni Awakening movement to bring the insurgents on board and (b) the "strategic thinking" of George Bush in starting a war of "choice" on false pretenses because he knew it would be a quick in-and-out war paid for by Iraqi oil.

Bush's administration was a disaster.

Obama's is following right in the same footsteps and is quickly becoming a disaster with his own mini "surge" in Afghanistan that has pooped out.

The truth is that the US had a tie with Korea, a defeat with Vietnam, a cut-and-run with Lebanon, a triumph under Reagan as be brought the might of America to bear on the tiny island of Granada, a truiump of Bush the elder as he brought the might of America to bear on the tiny country of Panama, a sound victory under Bush the elder by forming a mini-UN coalition to push back Saddam Hussein from Kuwait, then a disaster under Bush "junior" who wanted to correct his father's "mistake" of not going into Baghdad. In short, a long history of disasters with one bright spot, the first Gulf war.

The US has wasted incredible blood and treasure on right wing politician's fantasy of the US as a behemoth astride the world. Meanwhile, the right wing economics has raped the economy leaving unemployment at astronomical levels and governments at all levels broke, busted, and in despair.