I wasn’t going to do this, micro-dissect the numbers. I was going to leave that to the pundits with more access to the facts and figures than I have. But I’ll respond to this one as it stands and pretend it’s correct. In March 2003, we invaded Iraq. This graph shown by General Petraeus shows the number of violent actions since October 2004, some seventeen months into the war.
In this second figure, I’ve roughly fit it to a graph of our troop levels for the whole war. What it looks like to me is that in 2005 we pulled down our troop levels, and the evil mice came out to play. With the Surge, we added more troops, and are almost back to where we were when we pulled down our troops before, which isn’t a very good place to be. Petraeus is recommending a gradual pull-out over the next year. It doesn’t take a math whiz to ask why won’t it happen again. So, even if the graph on top is accurate, I’m thinking his estimate that he can decrease our troop levels might well be little more than a wish…
I don’t mean to imply that my comment makes anything make more sense. I’m arguing with the "decider." He’s given us the same malarky year after year [review the serial SOTUS speeches]. He tells us about his great plan and how well it’s going, and I no longer see him as anything but a cheerleader who doesn’t even know what the score of the game is – he’s just cheerleading. It could be Harvard 54 Yale 3 and he’d still be yelling "Go Team!" in the last seconds of the game. And I don’t blame Crocker or Petraeus, they’re just doing their job with the crap that’s been handed them. Crocker told us that the Iraqis are finding themselves after a lifetime of oppression under Hussein. I’m not arguing with that. What I’m arguing with is having George W. Bush or Dick Cheney involved with anything that has to do with Iraq, Iran, the Middle East, or much of anything else. They still represent the "Bush Doctrine" which at this point can be declared officially insanity. They got us into this mess, and the Iraqis into this mess, and they have designs on getting us in to an even worse mess.
Unless I missed something big, those two guys were competent seeming people. Left to their own devices, they might get somewhere. But not if they’re associated with the psycho-duo. After listening today, I know what I think. If we are to continue to try to save Iraq from destroying itself, a precondition is that Bush and Cheney are completely out of the picture. Otherwise, our efforts are hopeless and we might just as well come home…
When General Petraeus talked about a gradual pull-out over the next year, he is taking into account that there won’t be enough troops to rotate next year. He has to reduce the number of troops. He is being more than a little disingenuous talking about reducing the troops.