IRAQ: CONSEQUENCES OF WITHDRAWL

by Chuck Freilich

With the current partisan debate on Iraq raging in Congress, it is time to consider the reality there and consequent United States' options as they truly are, not as many wish. In broad terms, the U.S. has three options:

1. Staying the course, i.e. more of the same, with only limited changes in U.S. strategy. This option leads to inexorable defeat and to a pointless loss of lives. It is not clear that the President's "surge" is sufficient to avoid this.
   
2. Withdrawal, on the assumption that the U.S. has done what it could, but should now cut its losses. The harsh reality, however, is that the U.S. can not really disengage from Iraq and the Middle East, no matter how much it may want to, because the region's deep seated and violent ills will follow it back home. The Jihadis' and other "crazies'" hatred of the U.S. did not begin with the invasion of Iraq and will not end if it leaves.
   
3. Staying for the long haul, but with realistic objectives, recognizing that failure to achieve even a minimalist, bare bones, definition of "success" (a unified, stable and peaceful Iraq, no more), may lead to severe ramifications for the region and U.S. This approach would require a comprehensive strategy and for the Bush administration to tell it as it is: that the U.S. will have to remain in Iraq for the long haul, because the alternatives are even worse.

If the U.S. withdraws without achieving even this minimalist definition of "success", Iraq will deteriorate into ever worsening violence and may splinter into its component parts. Turkey may then invade Kurdistan, whose possible independence it views as a threat to its own territorial integrity. Iran will become not only a primary player in Iraq, but the primary one, possibly even annexing Shiite areas outright. The Saudis, already threatened by rising Shiite influence in the region, petrified by a possible Iranian presence right on their border, may similarly choose to preempt this by grabbing parts of Iraq. Jordan, with an Iranian controlled Iraq on its border, might collapse. For Israel, the consequences will be severe.

If the U.S. can be driven out, the Islamist fundamentalists, Jihadis, insurgents and other dark forces in the region, will have won. There will simply be no one to prevent them from using terror, WMD, subversion and religious fanaticism to pursue their aims. No one. The radicals of the Moslem world will be triumphant -- Iran, al Qaeda, Hamas, Hizballah and more.

Iran will end up the big victor, the regional hegemon, whose ambitions and nuclear program, will become unstoppable. As things look, there is a very real possibility that Iran will announce, within a few years, that it has achieved an operational nuclear capability, threaten to destroy Israel and to rain fire and destruction on other U.S. interests and allies in the region.

A nuclear Iran is a dire threat for nearly all countries in the region. Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and others already feel threatened and have announced their intentions to begin "civil" nuclear programs, which, as we all know, tend to "morph" into military ones. It is unclear that the U.S. can effectively cope with a nuclear Iran, but far worse, a multi-nuclear Middle East now looms. The U.S.-Soviet nuclear rivalry may pale in combustibility.

Is the U.S. -- are you -- willing to have the entire Middle East, the world's primary source of energy, under the threat of Iranian nukes? Not a "biggie," just the future of the western economy and way of life. Think about it the next time you take a drive, or turn up the heat.

In the even more radicalized Middle East that will follow a U.S. failure in Iraq, we can abandon any hopes for reform in the region and for any change in the root causes of its ills. The existing regimes will heighten oppression to retain power, the radical camp will be emboldened, the prospects for the "peace process" even dimmer than now. If the Middle East looks bad today, it will look wonderful in comparison and it will again engulf the U.S., no matter how much it wishes to disengage.

The administration has it right when it contends that failure in Iraq entails unacceptable risks. The question, however, is not whether 21,500 more troops are needed, or some other figure, but what the overall goals are and what strategy is needed to achieve them. A minimalist success -- a unified, stable and peaceful Iraq -- would require:

• A U.S. commitment to stay for the long haul and to deploy sufficient military force to make the difference on the ground. The administration will have to recognize that transfer of authority to the Iraqi government and forces is largely an illusion, for a long time. People divided by ethnic hatreds and biding their time in anticipation of a U.S. withdrawal, do not constitute an effective military force, or responsible government. A U.S. commitment for the long haul could provide the reassurance and stability necessary for political and economic reconstruction.

• Massive economic aid, not the token $1 billion announced. The U.S. spends over $500 billion a year on defense: a 1% cut could yield $5 billion in economic aid annually, 2% $10 billion. The bureaucracy has yet to be established that can not tolerate a 1-2% cut, no matter how stretched.

• Real political reform, with clear benchmarks for the Maliki government, coupled with a harsh warning that if it fails to deliver, the U.S. will not pack up and go home, but send the Iraqi regime packing and impose a new political process of U.S. choosing.

It is not clear that this, or any other strategy, can achieve even the minimalist "success" outlined above. Only one thing is certain: Getting out before this happens guarantees failure and many, if not all, of the ramifications, presented above.

THIS MANUFACTURED SCANDAL IS GETTING A BIT TIRING

Now the Democrats are talking about subpoenas for Bush staffers. Democrats couldn't be more thrilled that the media has really glommed on to their manufactured scandal over the firing of eight U.S. Attorneys. That partisan fool Patrick Leahy wants show hearings on Capital Hill.

Hearings for what? There has been no crime here. There has been no wrongdoing. The president is clearly permitted to fire U.S. Attorneys whenever he decides he wants to. He hires them, he fires them. Clinton fired every one of them. That had never happened before. He even fired the U.S. attorney who was in charge of the investigation of his wrongdoings with his pals at Madison Guaranty Federal Savings & Loan. Did Leahy demand hearings? Of course not! Leahy had no desire to manufacture a scandal a crisis in the Clinton administration .. but with an evil Republican in the White house, things are, of course, different.

Leahy and the media are trying to tell us that most Americans are on the edge of their seats virtually every day waiting to get to the bottom of the story with these U.S. Attorneys. NOT SO! If Americans were concerned about these attorneys being fired I would be hearing about it from my callers. I'm not. People don't care.

It's time for Bush to stand his ground. If he gives in to Leahy and crowd on this one ... it's just a matter of days or weeks before the Democrats come up with another manufactured scandal to push to their buddies in the media. Remember ... the Democrat plan is to have some sort of working Bush scandal on the front pages of the nation's liberal newspapers right up to election day 2008.

Here's something for you to ponder. OK ... so the Democrats hate Bush. They've vowed revenge since the 2000 elections. They wanted a selective recount in Florida -- a recount of only heavily Democrat counties. They wanted the votes of our military personnel overseas tossed out. They didn't care that thousands of military votes in the Florida panhandle were lost when the major networks declared the polls closed and Bush the winner with one hour left to vote in the heavily Republican areas of Florida. Bush won ... and the Democrats just can't stand it. They've been dedicated to the destruction of all things Bush ever since --- even to the point of weakening America by working against Bush's efforts to fight Islamic Fascism. Now ... think of how things might have gone with the Democrats scandal-a-week strategy if the mainstream media hadn't been in the Democrats pockets for the past six years!

By the way ... wouldn't it be nice if these Democrats were demanding answers to the mystery of how that $90,000 in cold hard bribery money was found in the freezer of Louisiana Congressman William Jefferson? Oh, wait. Excuse me. I almost forgot. He's a Democrat. When a Democrat takes bribes he ends up on the Homeland Security Committee. When a Republican takes bribes he ends up in jail.

DEMOCRATS LOADING UP ON PORK

Democrats, who supposedly oppose the war in Iraq with such vigor, are having absolutely no problem loading up an emergency funding bill with their pet pork projects. How much is being thrown down the proverbial pork barrel? Try $10 billion dollars. That's right...billion...with a 'B.' Let's look at just a few of the examples, shall we?

Among the war spending: $3.7 billion in farm subsidies. How this benefits our fighting men and women in Iraq, who knows. Another $2.9 billion is thrown in for good measure, this time for Gulf Coast rebuilding...you know, Katrina and all. Topping off the list is $2.4 billion for things like money for school districts, health insurance for the poor and such. But what's even more comical is that Democrats are defending it.

They say the money is needed and can't wait for the new fiscal year. This is just amazing...here you have all these Democrats opposed to the war, who say it's wrong, who want it to end...but they have no problem larding up the spending bill that will be used to fund the war they so despise. Hypocrisy doesn't even begin to describe this charade.

Oh, and don't forget the $1 billion for bird flu vaccines...and $500 million for wildfire suppression...sounds like war spending to me!

THE LATEST 9/11 THEORY

Democratic spokeswoman Rosie O'Donnell has posted a new theory on her blog about 9/11. That theory would be that the twin towers were brought down on purpose by the government to...are you ready for this? To get rid of records of government investigations into corporate fraud. The Blob actually posted that on her blog.

And you thought Howard Dean was nuts...this one takes the cake.

Her theory reads like an e-mail chain letter...the fires in the World Trade Center tower weren't evenly distributed. Firefighters warned the building was going to blow up. The building collapsed perfectly! It was an obvious demolition with Chaney observed running from the scene with a case of dynamite! So what exactly was the motivation behind blowing up the World Trade Center on purpose?

To destroy government records, of course. In particular, records involving corporate investigations of McEnroe. So evidently Mohammed Atta and his band of hijackers flew the planes into the towers just for show. The real action was the buildings being blown up.

How long does Baba Wawa keep this moonbat on her television show?

MARINE GUNNED DOWN ON '60 MINUTES'

Haditha Marine Sergeant Frank Wuterich's trial may be months away, but last night '60 Minutes' reporter Scott Pelley decided to court martial him on national television. It was one of the most outrageous displays of media bias ever. In case your memory needs refreshing, the Haditha incident was a situation in Iraq where a group of Marines, led by Wuterich, cleared a house that they thought was being used by insurgents. It turns out it was occupied by several women and children and all were killed. They've been charged with murder and their trial is expected later this year.

Wuterich says he's innocent. That the way he cleared that house was consistent with his training and that if Marines start asking before they shoot, they die. That's war...that's how it works. People die...and sometimes those people are innocent. It's called collateral damage. So anyway, all of this wasn't enough for the smarmy, condescending Scott Pelley on '60 Minutes' last night. He interviewed Wuterich and naturally, immediately took the side of the enemy.

Pelley called it a massacre...wrong. A massacre would be walking into a house, ordering everybody out, and shooting them in the head. This was a house-clearing operation, something that's done to root out insurgents in Iraq everyday. But Pelley continued his interrogation of the 25-year-old Wuterich...questioning his actions and mocking him because he hadn't seen combat prior to Haditha.

Ironically, with Pelley's interview..he may have created quite a bit of sympathy for Frank Wuterich. Just what we expect from the mainstream media...always blame America first.

Wake Up, Dammit!

CNN had a series of stories this past weekend dealing with the health care soldiers returning from the war against Islamic fascism (CNN calls it the "war on terror") are receiving at our veterans hospitals and other government medical facilities. In short ... it's not good.

One particular story dealt with a young soldier suffering from PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.) His efforts to receive treatment were being met with roadblocks virtually everywhere he went. On one occasion he told a case worker that he was feeling suicidal. The case worker told him that they would have a bed for him in 26 days. He was dead within a week. Hanged himself.

So .. here I am again delivering the same message again. This is the future of your medical care! If not for you, then almost certainly for your children and grandchildren!

This is the reality of socialized medicine. Yes, there is socialized medicine in the United States right now ... and there has been for generations. It is to be found in our system of military hospitals, clinics and dispensaries. I grew up with this medical care system. When I was sick my mother would take me to the base dispensary. Never heard that word? Well, the dictionary describes it as "a charitable or public facility where medicines are furnished and free or inexpensive medical service is available." Medical care was free for military families, thus the name. This has been quite some time ago, but I can still remember the excessive waits for even serious problems ... such as a large wooden splinter being driven up underneath a fingernail. Who would forget that one?.

The clamor of the people for someone --- anyone --- other than themselves to take care of their medical needs is leading us inexorably to a system of socialized medicine for us all. No, they won't call it socialized medicine. "Universal health care" seems to be the term of choice right now. But socialized medicine it shall be ... and the stories coming out of our veteran's facilities will be yours to tell in the future.

You asked for it. You're going to get it. And you're not going to like it one little bit.