Sunday, November 16, 2003
U.S. Loses Air Superiority Over Iraq
17 soldiers die as 2 US helicopters crash in Iraq0 comments
The truth is now too blatant to ignore: the U.S. has lost control of the skies over Iraq.
And we are on the verge of losing George Bush's "war."
No plane or helicopter is safe in the desert or the mountains. If I'm an American soldier in Iraq, my first thought now is, "I ain't gettin' on that thing." Rocket grenades will pick you off if you fly too low; surface-to-air missles get you if you fly out of range of the grenades. Remember, we taught these forces how to do this against the Soviets. And they're very good students.
We have created a "perfect storm" of enemies in Iraq.
- Saddam Hussein is running freely with his Baathist loyalists, with safe houses throughout the country and the region.
With huge caches of small arms and equipment.
- Iraq is now a Black Hole, sucking in every angry malcontent within the Muslim world who fancies him/herself a willing terror candidate. The U.S., through the blundering, greed and stupidity of this administration, has become the prime recruiter for Osama Bin Laden, leading to the reformation and resurrection of al Queda as a viable fighting force.
Include in this scenario those same huge caches of small arms and equipment lying all about the country.
- The Governing Council. Made up of men whom the U.S. mistakenly felt it could control; this bunch, in truth, are ambitious, conniving men (the sole woman was killed off weeks ago) with little actual constituency within Iraq that the U.S. hasn't created for them, and for whom this is a perfect opportunity to amass power and wealth. As things continue to go wrong, they can be counted on to consolidate their own power bases and support whoever begins to emerge as dominant in the area—be it the U.S., Saddam or Osama. Doesn't matter much to them. They'll still get theirs. It's called "Diplomatic Flexibility."
They also have access to those same huge caches of small arms and equipment lying all about the country.
- The Turks and the Kurds. We used both of these centuries-old blood enemies to get our way last spring, and now they each mistakenly believe we're going to support them against the other. Without Saddam's ironfisted rule keeping order, the death toll is already beginning to rise, with U.S. troops smack dab in the middle.
Oh, and both groups also have access to those same huge caches of small arms and equipment lying all about the country.
- The Iraqi populace. They have suffered through: thirty years of Saddam's rule; ten years of crushing sanctions; almost indiscriminate bombing during the invasion, which destroyed what decent infrastructure they had; the deaths of thousands of civilians, including many of their own family members; empty U.S. promises of a better and safer day in Iraq, which they were led to believe would accompany the fall of Saddam; and, the racism of an occupying army with few, if any, troops who've been taught their language, who each now fear the general population and see each Iraqi as a very real threat to his/her very survival. No, this never was going to be Lyons in 1945, with pretty girls tossing flowers to the soldiers and their fathers pouring our boys wine. But, it could have come close.
Unfortunately, this disgruntled Iraqi populace also has those same huge caches of small arms and equipment lying all about the country.
All of this firepower, in the hands of all of these groups who now have a motive, leads directly to the ongoing murder of American sons and daughters at Bush's command. The blood is squarely on his hands.
Many years ago, Israel invaded Lebanon, which had once been known as "the Paris of the Middle East," to make it safer. It soon resembled the South Bronx in a bad year.
And now Iraq, once the cultural center of the Middle East, has swiftly been turned into a free-fire zone.
George & Dick's Excellent Adventure.
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Get Angry! Have your say. Write your elected officials now!
Here's the Realtime Iraq Invasion Cost Clock!
posted by Gotham 9:33 AM
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