Buried in
an article about the seven US troops killed over the weekend in Iraq is this shocker:
The spiking violence -- including roadside bombs and suicide attacks -- has raised concern in Washington where Sen. Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat and member of the
Senate Armed Services Committee, said only a quarter of the 168,000 Iraqi forces being trained and equipped by the U.S.-led coalition "are able and willing to take on the insurgents." Political infighting presented as big a challenge, he told ABC's "This Week" TV program.
Levin said if Iraqis fail to write a constitution, elect a new government and develop reliable security forces by early next year, Washington will have to rethink its commitment to Iraq. Sen. Chuck Hagel, a Nebraska Republican and member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, agreed.
There you have it folks, the emerging "bipartisan consensus" on what to do with Iraq: just drop it and blame everything on the Iraqis.
Iraq will stain America's honor for generations.
We wrecked their country so badly it could not be put back together -- and the party line is going to be that it is the Iraqis' fault for not fixing their country fast enough.
So when we leave Iraq next year -- because by then we will have no choice -- whatever happens next will be the Iraqis' fault.
The only way to save America's honor is to do whatever it takes to stabilize the country and give the Iraqis a reasonable standard of living.
But our leadership is not going to do that, it was too hard, so we are just going to pull out and leave the Iraqis to their fate.
What a goddamned disgrace. A catastrophic failure. And we know who's really to blame.