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REVERSE DOMINO EFFECT: Eisenhower’s Discredited S E ASIA Theory Resurfaces In Bush White House Propaganda Blitz: Con Job On America - RI10
posted Friday, 13 October 2006
REVERSE DOMINO EFFECT:
Eisenhower’s Discredited S
E ASIA Theory Resurfaces
In Bush White House
Propaganda Blitz: Con Job
On America - RI10
Jamie McIntyre reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With U.S. casualties in Iraq on pace to make October the deadliest month in two years, the top general at the Pentagon tells CNN the overall strategy is under review, including the lynchpin of the U.S. exit strategy, relying on Iraqi forces to take up the fight.
GEN. PETER PACE, JOINT CHIEFS CHAIRMAN: Are those assumptions still valid? If they are, OK. Then how are we doing in getting to where we're supposed to be going? If we're getting there, how do we reinforce that? If we're not, what should we change?
MCINTYRE: Pace's candid comments come a day after Iraq commander General George Casey met with President Bush, whose Iraq policy is being questioned by key members of his own party. Armed Services Committee Chairman, Republican Senator John Warner, for instance, returned from Iraq saying a change of course may be needed if the current level of violence continues.
BUSH: If the plan is now not working, the plan that's in place isn't working, America needs to adjust. I completely agree.
MCINTYRE: Pace says he and the other joint chiefs are debriefing commanders just back from the frontlines, including one colonel recognized as a rising star and creative thinker. Colonel H.R. McMaster is the author the 1997 book "Dereliction of Duty," considered the seminal work on the military's responsibility during Vietnam to confront their civilian bosses when the strategy wasn't working.
But so far, neither Casey nor his civilian boss, Donald Rumsfeld, admit any flaws in the current approach. And Rumsfeld gave this terse response when asked if he was responsible for what's gone wrong in Iraq.
DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: Why do we have to keep going through this? Of course I bear responsibility. My Lord, I'm secretary of defense. Write it down. Quote it. You can bank it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MCINTYRE: A separate strategy review is underway by the Independent Iraq Study Group, headed by former Secretary of State Jim Baker. Sources tell CNN there is little consensus among the experts, except for the general agreement that the current strategy is not working -- Kitty.
PILGRIM: Thanks very much, Jamie McIntyre.
Well, insurgents in Iraq have killed one more U.S. soldier and wounded two others. Now, the troops came under enemy fire in Tameem Province; 2,753 of our troops have been killed in Iraq. Twenty thousand eight hundred and ninety-seven of our troops have been wounded.
The U.S. Army says it’s planning to keep current U.S. troop levels in Iraq for at least the next four years. Now, with this statement, it is unlikely that there will be significant withdrawal of troops in the near future.
For more on the impact of this announcement and for more perspective on other developments in Iraq, we turn to General David Grange. General Grange joins us from Chicago.
Thanks for being with us.
BRIG. GEN. DAVID GRANGE (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Good evening. PILGRIM: Let's start. Yesterday President Bush responded to pressures that the United States should set a definitive time period for troop withdrawal, and let's talk about what he said.
He said, "they may not use cut and run but they say that a date certain is the way to get out before the job is done. That is cut and run. And maybe their words are more sophisticated than mine but when you pull out when the job and done, it is cut and run as far as I'm concerned."
President Bush very clearly saying that we are not going to cut and run. What is your position on this new announcement and the president's statement?
GRANGE: Well, on the president's statement, I mean, you know, first of all, it's good to let the enemy know that you have the resolve, that you're going to finish this thing through and it's not the American way to lose a war. I mean, we have lost in the past and I don't think we want to do that again.
I mean, it's one of these things that if we leave, I think the whole region will explode, if not right away, immediately after that. And so, I mean, there's no other choice whether you agree with the fact that we went into Iraq or not that we have to win this thing.
Now, to make the statement that we're going to keep the same troop levels for four more years, if that's in fact the case, I'm glad that's an upfront statement. It's better to say you're going to have more than what you have right now and then downsize is good news than keep going back and forth and saying, well, we may have to pull guys, may have to extend them. Put what you need in there to win, even if it takes a long time, and get on with it.
PILGRIM: There was some discussion a phased withdrawal and that was pretty much the way it was discussed up until this point, General Grange. Is it really the failure of the Iraqi forces, both police and army, to fill the gaps?
GRANGE: Well, you know, it takes awhile to train up forces. I mean, I know how long it takes to train the best armies in the world, ours and armies like ours. And so when you're starting from scratch, with a culture like this, especially on the leadership training, you can't do it overnight. And it takes time.
At the same -- while you're doing this training, at the same time you have a lot of militant leaders that don't want this thing to work and they're trying to break it apart. General Casey, we were able to talk to him last week on a teleconference, and he said that, you know, to have prosperity in Iraq, you've got to have security and to have security, you've got to have unity.
And what the enemy is doing is attacking both the security and the unity, the unity of the people, unity of the government and security of the people, attacking those two critical aspects, those two conditions because they know that's what it takes for them to win. And so they have to get on with getting that resolved with the unity and the security, if we have any chance for victory.
PILGRIM: You know, we've been looking at the figures of Ramadan. There have been an average of 36 attacks a day in Iraq now. It's something -- a spike we usually see during this period, but is it worse than ever?
GRANGE: I think it's been pretty bad, as we know, and it's getting worse. And that's because the strategy of the militant Sunni and Shia leaders, as well as the country of Iran, the leaders of Iran, that is their strategy to break this thing apart. And so you have these other influences that the coalition and the Iraqi government did not have to such a degree before.
You were fighting terrorists, you were fighting insurgents, you were fighting criminals. Now you're dealing with these militant militias and advisers and influence from the country of Iran, which is now increasing the violence.
PILGRIM: Thank you very much, General David Grange.
Still to come, is the war in Iraq giving more fuel to our enemies? Well, my next guest says yes. Fawaz Gerges is the preeminent expert on the Middle East, and he'll join us.
Also, Lou speaks with Barry Levinson. He's the director of "Man of the Year," and it's a film that has more than a few similarities to this program. We'll explain all that. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PILGRIM: American casualties in Iraq are rising sharply. But President Bush says the U.S. needs to stay the course, and my next guest says that rather than stay the course, the U.S. needs to dramatically shift gears.
Fawaz Gerges is a leading expert on the Middle East. He's currently living in Cairo as a Carnegie scholar researching the Muslim world, but he's in New York tonight, and thank you very much for taking time to talk to us.
I know you're in the Middle East for 16 months, taking a bit of a break to talk to us and see some people, and then you're going back. So we'll take advantage of your expertise.
Let's look at the statement. President Bush has continued to insist that the U.S. has to stay the course. And yesterday, he did remark on the consequences of removing the troops. Listen to that first.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: If we were to abandon that country before the Iraqis can defend their young democracy, the terrorists would take control of Iraq and establish a new safe haven from which to launch new attacks on America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PILGRIM: Now, and we also hear the policy statement that the troop levels will remain the same. What is your reaction to this?
FAWAZ GERGES, PROFESSOR, SARAH LAWRENCE COLLEGE: Well, it seems to me that the president has boxed himself in. We are winning. They are losing. Iraq is standing on its feet. And this is why I think we should not expect any dramatic changes in the next two years or so.
I expect more of the same. My fear, Kitty, is that security conditions could deteriorate further in the next year or so, and American forces would then be forced to retreat in humiliation as a result of the policy of staying the course.
PILGRIM: Fawaz, I really have to push you on this. You say Iraq is standing on its feet. Sometimes the perception through the news media is that Iraq is in a very big mess. Is Iraq improving?
GERGES: Truly, by the way, I mean, for a person like me who spends long periods of time in the Middle East, the situation in Iraq is very grave. The social fabric of the country itself is disintegrating under the weight of internal civil strife and foreign occupation.
And I think the president underestimates the gravity of the internal turmoil that's breaking the country apart.
Today, Kitty, Iraq stands on the brink of all-out conflict. Even though now Iraq is undergoing low-intensity civil war, my fear and the consensus in the region, that Iraq is breaking apart.
And this is why staying the course, as the president says, the president does not appreciate the gravity of the internal turmoil in the country.
PILGRIM: You know, I have to push you on another fact, and that is that with all the sectarian violence -- we've just spoken with General Grange about this spike in violence -- why is there no strong -- or perhaps there is a strong Muslim voice, a leader speaking out against this sectarian violence?
GERGES: Well, unfortunately, I mean, people I talk to in the Middle East, Iraqis, they don't believe that Iraqis are doing this to Iraqis. I mean, the consensus, the conventional wisdom is that it's either the Americans or the Israeli military or security apparatus. But the truth is Iraqis are killing each other in the thousands. I mean, the average killing last month, 2,600 Iraqi civilians have been killed.
And the question here, Kitty, the president keeps talking about terrorism. Terrorism, al Qaeda, of course are critical, a critical factor in the equation. What the president does not take into account now, the gravity of the internal strife in the country itself, that Iraq is breaking apart.
And further, for a person like me, who comes, who lives in the region, resides in the region, in fact our military presence in Iraq is alienating mainstream Muslim public opinion. So not only we're basically, as our intelligence services, our actions are sowing the seeds of a new generation of jihadists, our military venture in Iraq is alienating and antagonizing mainstream public opinion.
PILGRIM: Let me suggest to you, though, that the airwaves are filled with anti-American rhetoric in the Middle East, and Al-Jazeera playing all over -- this is also causing a good bit of anti-American sentiment. Is it really the military presence, or is this propaganda that's being broadcast?
GERGES: Truly, Kitty, I mean, there's a great deal of propaganda. There is a pervasive anti-American foreign policy in the region, but the Iraq war is pouring fuel on a raging fire.
The Iraq war, the reason why I'm worried a great deal, the Iraqi war is alienating mainstream Arab and Muslim public opinion as opposed to radical public opinion. Of course, we don't care about radical public opinion, but we should care about the floating middle of Muslim public opinion.
And the Iraq war is pivotal, is pivotal because most Muslims I talk to think that somehow that we are a colonial power, we are there to divide and humiliate the Muslim world.
PILGRIM: Fawaz Gerges, thank you very much for your insights. Good luck in your travels and your studies. Thank you.
GERGES: Pleasure.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0610/12/ldt.01.html
I'm Wolf Blitzer, you're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
Today more scenes of violence in Iraq, and one top military official says it will only get worse. U.S. Military Spokesman General Bill Caldwell says the violence tends to spike during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which is now under way. He says the violence will quote, "get worse before it gets better."
Today at least 34 people were killed around Iraq. Nine of them after gunmen stormed the offices of the Sunni satellite TV station. Meanwhile, U.S. officials say the overall Iraq plan is now under review. Details now from our CNN Senior Pentagon Correspondent Jamie McIntyre -- Jamie.
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, Joint Chiefs Chairman General Peter Pace would not say that this is second guessing. But he does say the U.S. policy in Iraq is getting a second look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MCINTYRE (voice-over): With U.S. casualties in Iraq on pace to make October the deadliest month in two years, the top general at the Pentagon tells CNN the overall strategy is under review. Including the lynchpin of the U.S. exit strategy, relying on Iraqi forces to take up the fight.
GEN. PETER PACE, CHMN., JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: Are those assumptions still valid? If they are, OK, then how are we doing in getting to where we're supposed to be going? If we are getting there, and how do we reinforce that? If we are not, what should we change?
MCINTYRE: Pace's candid comments come a day after Iraq Commander General George Casey met with President Bush, whose Iraq policy is being questioned by key members of his own party. Armed Services Committee Chairman Republican Senator John Warner, for instance, returned from Iraq saying a change of course may be needed if the current level of violence continues.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If the plan is now not working, the plan that's in place isn't working, America needs to adjust. I completely agree.
MCINTYRE: He says he and other joint chiefs are debriefing commanders just back from the front lines including one colonel recognized a s a rising star and creative thinker. Colonel H.R. McMasters, the author of the 1997 book, "Dereliction of Duty", considered the seminal work on the military's responsibility during Vietnam to confront their civilian bosses when the strategy wasn't working.
But so far neither Casey, nor his civilian boss, Donald Rumsfeld admit any flaws in the current approach. And Rumsfeld gave this terse response when asked if he was responsible for what's gone wrong in Iraq.
DONALD RUMSFELD, U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Why do we have to keep going through this? Of course I bear responsibility. My lord, I'm secretary of Defense. Write it down; quote it. You can bank it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MCINTYRE: Meanwhile, the other key aspect of the U.S. strategy getting the Sunnis and Shias to form a unity government appears to be unraveling as well. There is bitter recriminations about a law just past in the Iraqi parliament that would allow the creation of semiautonomous federal states. Something the Sunnis fear would lead to the Kurds having control to the north, the Shia in the south, and they being isolated in an area without oil in the central part of the country -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Jamie, at the Pentagon, thank you. And there are also new developments and another problem facing the White House. That would be the North Korean nuclear threat. United States is hoping for United Nations resolution by tomorrow, but there are some serious sticking points under way right now. Our senior U.N. Correspondent Richard Roth has details -- Richard.
RICHARD ROTH, CNN SR. U.N. CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, once again the United States is locked in a resolution fight with China and Russia. The U.S. and Japan are pushing hard for a vote Friday on a sanctions resolution aimed at Pyongyang North Korea. But Russia and China still have reservations.
(BEGIN CLIP)
JOHN BOLTON, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO UNITED NATIONS: We would always like the highest number of votes in the Security Council. And we have not given up on our efforts to achieve that. But we've also said that it's important that we send a very clear signal. And we're still trying to persuade China, what I think is the overwhelming sentiment of the other members of the Council to support these provisions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROTH: All the countries want to punish North Korea for its nuclear tests. But China and Russia are worried about the use of force, through this resolution, which Ambassador Bolton rejects -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Richard, thank you.
Among other things the proposed sanctions seek to clamp down on North Korea's vast smuggling network. Coming up later this hour, CNN's Brian Todd will show us the operation that includes everything from missiles to fake Viagra, earning North Korea 100s of millions of dollars each year. This is an important story.
[BREAK]
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Wolf, the United States military is now admitting that violence in Iraq is, quote, "at an all-time high," unquote. The number of sectarian killings each month has more than tripled since February.
U.S. military statistics show that death squads killed 1,450 people in the city of Baghdad in the month of September. That's up from 450 last February. So far this month, they've killed another 770 people. And remember, we are just talking about Baghdad. Today 17 Iraqis were killed in Baghdad. Including nine who were shot to death in the offices of a Sunni satellite TV station.
Police say they found another 40 bodies today that were riddled with bullets and showing signs of torture. More than 400 bodies have been found like this in Baghdad so far this month. And today is just the 12th of October. Meanwhile, the U.S. military death toll is now 2,753, since the start of this war.
Republican Senator John McCain, a close ally of President Bush, says the war in Iraq is drifting sideways. Bob Woodward's book, "State of Denial" predicts the violence in Iraq will be worse next year than it is this year.
So here's the question: When it comes to Iraq, what are we doing? E-mail your thoughts to CaffertyFile@CNN.com or go to CNN.com/CaffertyFile.
BLITZER: Jack, I think you said Senator John McCain, you meant Senator John Warner.
CAFFERTY: I'm sorry. Did I say McCain? I did mean Senator John Warner of the Armed Services Committee, just back from a trip to Iraq and was quoted as saying that the war there is going sideways.
BLITZER: And no one has been more supportive of the president of this war than the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee John Warner.
CAFFERTY: No, that was seen as kind of a serious blow to the president's sort of stay the course strategy. When Warner is saying we have to give this thing two or three more months. If we don't start seeing different results we have to consider a change in our approach over there.
BLITZER: McCain is still strong supporter of the president's strategy when it comes to the war in Iraq?
CAFFERTY: Yes.
BLITZER: OK, Jack, thank you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Check back with Jack Cafferty. Jack?
JACK CAFFERTY: U.S. military officials are now admitting that violence in Iraq is worse than it has ever been. Seventeen more Iraqis killed in Baghdad today including nine who were shot to death in the offices of a Sunni satellite TV station. Meantime police have found 400 more bodies showing signs of torture in just the first 12 days of this month. All in the capital city of Baghdad alone. So the question we ask is when it comes to Iraq, what are we doing? We have a lot of mail.
Rob in Minneapolis, "It's obvious what we're doing there, we're staying the course even if it's an obviously misguided one. Rather than have the terrorists come over here and kill Americans, we send our Americans over there to get killed." Bob in Morris Plaines, New Jersey, "When we had our civil war, nobody tinkered with it. Remove our troops to the borders and prevent outside troublemakers and then let them "fight it out". Religious issues cannot be politically solved. I don't think most Americans care if they kill each other. George, it's time to listen to your supporters."
Pat writes from New York, "What are we doing in Iraq? We're catering to the misplaced instincts of a disturbed man and his minions. I'm talking about Bush and I'm too outraged to be polite here."
Charlie writes from New York, "That's a great question. My fear is that the great brains who lead this country are sitting around the Oval Office asking themselves the same question because clearly, they have no clue!"
Kennon in Clearwater, Florida, "Jack, I really mean this. Is it possible that somewhere in your daily thoughts that possibly, just possibly, you can find one item that you see as a "positive" in this country?" Kennon, I see many things in this country that are positive, our foreign policy doesn't have to be among them.
Don in Ukiah, California, "Jack, what are we doing in Iraq, politically, we are showing our stupidity. Militarily we are showing our strength, determination and unquestioned ability. You guys at CNN are doing as much of the right thing as anyone can. You're bringing it into America's living rooms."
Thanks for that Don, our pleasure. If you didn't see your e-mail here you can go to CNN.com/CaffertyFile, we post some more of these online. As I mentioned, I got a lot of mail on that question -- Wolf.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0610/12/sitroom.02.html
Chief UK Military Leader Calls for Iraq Withdrawal
The head of the British military says foreign occupation is worsening the situation in Iraq and should come to an end. In an interview with the British newspaper the Daily Mail, General Sir Richard Dannatt, said: "I don't say that the difficulties we are experiencing round the world are caused by our presence in Iraq but undoubtedly our presence in Iraq exacerbates them.” He added: "We are in a Muslim country and Muslims' views of foreigners in their country are quite clear. As a foreigner, you can be welcomed by being invited in a country, but we weren't invited certainly by those in Iraq at the time." Dannatt’s statement made front-page headlines around Britain. Many reports suggested his comments signify a major split between the military and Prime Minister Tony Blair. But Dannatt later denied this was the case.
General Sir Richard Dannatt: "That comment just needs to be put in context. There are certain places where we are that we are attacked because we are there. There are other places in Basra and an operation going on at the present moment called Operation Salamanca where we are deliberately going to districts to make things better for people. We are doing reconstruction tasks and development tasks and they appreciate that. But in other places because we are there we constitute a target and we are attacked and it is in that sense that our presence exacerbates the problem."
Report: Iraq Study Group Sees No US Victory in Iraq
The British general’s comments come amid reports the Congressional commission established to assess the Iraq war has ruled out the prospect of a US victory. According to the New York Sun, the two main strategies considered by the Iraq Study Group both contradict President Bush’s rhetorical vow to establish a democracy in Iraq. In another rebuke to the administration’s policies, both strategies would encourage the US to hold talks with Syria and Iran. The commission’s findings will not be released until after mid-term elections next month.
Iraq Law OKs Autonomous Regions
Meanwhile in Iraq, the Iraqi parliament has passed a law that would allow the creation of separate autonomous regions. The vote passed over the objection of Sunnis who say it will lead to the break-up of Iraq. In a concession to Sunni concerns, the law says the regions cannot be formed for at least eighteen months.
Ex-UK Home Secretary Advised Bombing Al-Jazeera
A former top British official has admitted he advised Prime Minister Tony Blair to bomb the Arabic television network Al Jazeera during the opening months of the Iraq war. In an interview with Britain’s Channel Four, former Home Secretary David Blunkett says he told Blair to strike Al Jazeera’s transmitting equipment because it was broadcasting "propaganda". Blunkett explained: "There wasn't a worry from me because I believed that this was a war and in a war you wouldn't allow the broadcast to continue taking place.” Two weeks after Blunkett recommended the attack, the US military bombed Al Jazeera’s office in Baghdad, killing correspondent Tareq Ayoub. On Thursday, Al Jazeera editor-in-chief Ahmed Al-Sheikh said: "This adds to the growing number of evidence that will one day prove that the attack on Aljazeera was premeditated... at the highest levels. Aljazeera was being targeted at the time because the people who were waging war on Iraq didn't like what it was showing. We talk about terrorism, this is pure terrorism," he said.
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/10/13/1359211
Lebanese women salvage belongings
from their apartments after Israeli
air-strikes in Beirut. (AP)
A reverse domino theory may be playing out in the Middle East
COMMENTARY | July 17, 2006
Gen. William Odom says Vice President Cheney has it all wrong when he warns that the U.S. must stay in Iraq because failure there could prompt collapse elsewhere. In fact, now it looks like a new Arab-Israeli war could be breaking out precisely because our actions in Iraq have emboldened Iran and Syria.
By William E. Odom
diane@hudson.org
Recently on national television, Vice President Cheney warned that withdrawing U.S. forces from Iraq would prompt the collapse of governments in other countries in the region, namely Pakistan, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia, putting them in the hands of radical Islamist rulers.
Cheney has it exactly backwards. Our continued entanglement is what is destabilizing the region.
The escalating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah and Hamas could become a new Arab-Israeli War. And it is precisely our actions in Iraq that have opened the door for Iran and Syria to support Hezbollah and Hamas actions without much to fear from the U.S.
Cheney’s assertion is a new version of the old domino theory, which was invented to justify the U.S. military involvement in Vietnam. Were the Communists to win there, it was claimed, a series of other countries in Southeast Asia would also fall, like dominos, to the Communist bloc, making China extremely powerful and menacing. Laos and Cambodia did fall, more or less, to China's sphere, while Vietnam stayed with the Soviet Union. But the larger U.S. aim, the containment of China, was achieved, in spite of the United States, by Soviet and North Vietnamese actions against China. And the dire consequences of the domino theory that were so widely proclaimed by hawks at the time never came to pass.
We should have learned a number of things from the Vietnam War, but most of all that unintended consequences are often the most significant outcomes. Our well-intended policies in Vietnam soon rendered the United States incapable of accomplishing anything positive in the region. Massive use of American combat power justified all of the extremism that North Vietnam used in pursuing its course, and most important, it removed all doubt about who could claim the banner of "national liberation" in Vietnam. The Saigon government was soon seen as no more than America's lackey. Thus withdrawal from Vietnam actually improved America's strategic position for turning the tide against the Soviet Union, beginning during the Carter administration and accelerating during the Reagan administration.
In the succinct language of military strategy, strategic withdrawals often involve tactical defeats but open the way to counteroffensives and "strategic success." The domino theory, invoked to avoid "tactical defeats," can easily obscure the wisdom of a strategic withdrawal and instead pave the way to "strategic defeat."
Is the domino theory valid for the Middle East? No, not any more than it was in Vietnam. But a reverse domino theory is. The longer the U.S. stays in Iraq, the more likely the collapse of the secular regimes in those Muslim nations, and the more likely a full-scale war between Israel and its neighbors. It’s American departure from Iraq that could prevent it.
Ironically, a "democratic domino theory" was one of the rationales Cheney invoked for the invasion of Iraq. In the mid-1990s, a small group of neoconservatives invented the idea of upending the entire Middle East region by imposing democracy in Iraq. They argued that other countries would follow. Now that elections in Iraq have stimulated civil war – and put a Shiite majority in the position to revenge the wrongs they suffered at the hands of Saddam Hussein and to give Iran great influence in Iraq – the vice president has changed tunes. His enthusiasm for a "democratic domino theory" has also been dampened by recent election gains by Hamas in Palestine and Hezbollah's voting potential in Lebanon.
Now, according to this new theory, how does Mr. Cheney propose to stop these dominos – Pakistan, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia – from falling? By keeping U.S. troops in Iraq indefinitely. This is perverse.
The U.S. forces in Iraq opened the country to al Qaeda cadres, and democratic elections have cleared the way for radical rulers. The longer U.S. forces stay, the more likely it is that their radicalizing impact will reach beyond Iraq to Egypt and Saudi Arabia – and perhaps to Pakistan. Not the other way around!
Tied down and strategically immobilized by its entanglement in Iraq, the administration has no credibility with most of its major allies. Only after it withdraws from Iraq and admits its own complicity in this spreading crisis will it be able to help stem the tide it has set in motion. Why? Upon our withdrawal, our allies will be far more likely to respond constructively to a U.S. bid to design a joint strategy for restoring regional stability in the Middle East. Decreasing the likelihood of more radical (and possibly undemocratic) regimes emerging in the Middle East requires a coalition of the major states of Europe and East Asia. It is beyond U.S. power alone.
The longer the United States keeps troops in Iraq, the greater that challenge will be.
Lieutenant General William E. Odom, U.S. Army (Ret.), is a Senior Fellow with Hudson Institute and a professor at Yale University. He was Director of the National Security Agency from 1985 to 1988. From 1981 to 1985, he served as Assistant Chief of Staff for Intelligence, the Army's senior intelligence officer. From 1977 to 1981, he was Military Assistant to the President's Assistant for National Security Affairs, Zbigniew Brzezinski.
E-mail: diane@hudson.org
http://www.niemanwatchdog.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=background.view&backgroundid=00103
Tabacco: Karl Rove is familiar with Eisenhower’s “Domino Theory”. He resurrected it because people do not know history and won’t recognize the same failed theory in new packaging. Sorry, guys, but some of us do see the parallel.
The Iraqi people want America out of Iraq.
The American public wants America out of Iraq.
The majority of Democratic legislators want America out of Iraq.
A vocal minority of Republican legislators wants America out of Iraq.
The Bush administration wants America to stay in Iraq permanently or as long as possible.
Since we know the U.S. continued presence in Iraq is not about WMDs or Saddam Hussein, and staying there hinders rather than helps the “War On Terror”, the REAL REASON FOR STAYING IS OBVIOUS – OIL!
The Domino Theory Is A
Hoax!
The Bush White House didn’t resurrect this failed theory because they figured it didn’t work in the 50s but it will work today. They merely resurrected it to justify continued U.S. presence in Iraq because they refuse to get up off Iraqi oil, no matter how many people are killed on both sides.
Today’s Domino Theory Is An Excuse,
Not A Reason!
Those, who argue the “war is not going well for us” or “the Iraq War is being lost because of Bush administration mistakes”, miss the point entirely. Bush doesn’t need to win the War, cannot win the War, nor does he want to “WIN THE WAR”. Without insurgency or civil war or bogeymen like Osama bin Laden, Bush would have no excuse to stay in Iraq. HE’S NOT TRYING TO WIN THE WAR OR CAPTURE AND KILL ALL INSURGENT OR TERRORIST LEADERS – THAT WOULD DEFEAT HIS PURPOSE:
MAINTAIN A PRESENCE IN
IRAQ AND CONTROL OVER
IRAQI OIL
Once you understand that, the rest of his so-called “mistakes” make sense. They aren’t mistakes at all but deliberate foot-dragging to allow the U.S. to do what it says it does not want to do –
STAY IN IRAQ
PERMANENTLY!
In 1981's 'Body Heat', Kathleen Turner said, "Knowledge is power".
T.A.B.A.C.C.O. (Truth About Business And Congressional Crimes Organization)
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