In reading NYCO's
diary entry about Brooks' article in the NY Times, fellow poster Robert Gustavo Horn made the following interesting comment:
It looks to me like the Iraqis are defending themselves better and better every week, but I don't think that's what Brooks meant.
Brooks had said that we must continue to remain positive about what our troops are doing until we can train the Iraqis to take over. But what will we have then?
Right now, the Bush Administration wants us to believe that we are fighting against terrorists in Iraq. In reality, while some of those we are fighting against may be members of terrorist cells from outside of Iraq, the large portion of the fighters are probably Iraqis. What we really have, here, is an insurgency against our occupation. One might even term it a belated Iraqi revolution, save now it is against the CPA as a function of American imperialism. If we withdraw, though, we may leave behind an Iraq caught in the midst of civil war.
Furthermore, if we do withdraw, one cannot expect the rest of the Middle East not to pounce upon the bleeding carcass of Iraq. Those oil reserves will be a BIG temptation, to say the least.