Thursday, March 02, 2006
Rumsfeld ignores the quacking duck
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is doing everything in his power to make it appear to the Iraqi's that America is not occupying their nation.
We do not want to appear to be an occupying force? If we do not wish to appear to be occupying Iraq how about withdrawing our troops! Excuse me while I start working on the acceptance speech I give when I pick up the honorary Commander Spock Vulcan Logic Award.
Indeed it appears for all the world that the administration approach gives us the worst outcome possible. Being occupied is feeding the insurgency. Not having enough forces there to keep the lid on has lead to a horrid security situation which makes it extremely difficult for a fledgling democracy to take hold. There have been plenty of calls (from senator McCain to Paul Bremer) for increased troop levels to improve security, which have fallen on deaf ears in the administration. Of course the Murtha plan is not being considered, though right now it appears for all the world to be the only sane plan offered by any leader in Washington. So we have an occupation in a deteriorating security environment.
We are now presented with no good options but, at least according to Rumsfeld, we do not look like occupiers!
The number of U.S. troops in Iraq should not be so big that they appear to be an occupying force, despite recent spikes in sectarian violence, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Thursday.As the saying goes, if it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it's a duck.
Speaking at the Harry S. Truman Presidential Museum and Library, Rumsfeld said the United States has to "keep avoiding filling every vacuum and if we're around that place with too many people we tend to fill every vacuum. And that's not a healthy thing."
He said America needs to have enough military forces there to support the fledgling government and the development of a new political system, but not so many that it will feed the insurgency and make Iraqis think the U.S. is there only for oil.
"You don't want too many people there that you look like an occupying force, that the insurgents and the terrorists are able to lie to people and say you're only there for their oil, that you're there to occupy the country, that you intend to stay there permanently _ all of which is false," said Rumsfeld.
We do not want to appear to be an occupying force? If we do not wish to appear to be occupying Iraq how about withdrawing our troops! Excuse me while I start working on the acceptance speech I give when I pick up the honorary Commander Spock Vulcan Logic Award.
Indeed it appears for all the world that the administration approach gives us the worst outcome possible. Being occupied is feeding the insurgency. Not having enough forces there to keep the lid on has lead to a horrid security situation which makes it extremely difficult for a fledgling democracy to take hold. There have been plenty of calls (from senator McCain to Paul Bremer) for increased troop levels to improve security, which have fallen on deaf ears in the administration. Of course the Murtha plan is not being considered, though right now it appears for all the world to be the only sane plan offered by any leader in Washington. So we have an occupation in a deteriorating security environment.
We are now presented with no good options but, at least according to Rumsfeld, we do not look like occupiers!
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