The Iraq "Surge:" Failed

Dick Kazan Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2007 3:48 pm

Dear Reader,

As this "surge" continues to fall apart, the Bush Administration is seeking scape goats. Aside from blaming Iran, the latest scape goat is the Iraq government, the one the U.S. keeps in power.

The Bush Administration is upset because the Iraq parliament is going on vacation for a month, without first doing what the U.S. told them to do. It seems hypocritical considering Mr. Bush, Mr. Cheney and others in the Administration will also be on vacation, as will Congress.

I wonder if before they leave, they will first do what the Iraq government has asked them to do.

And given the crucial issues unresolved in Washington, such as the Iraq war, immigration, energy issues, environmental issues, the federal budget and other matters, it seems odd Mr. Bush isn't equally as critical of his own Administration and Congress.

The Bush Administration also claims the Iraqi government is corrupt and they have extensive evidence to prove it. This isn't news to the Iraqi people, which sees and feels it each day in the misery of their lives.

But we Americans are supposed to become upset because if only the Iraq government was more honest and effective, the U.S. military occupation of Iraq would be more successful

And for some it has been a tremendous success such as Haliburton, Boeing, Blackwater and many other U.S. military and civilian contractors who are profiting immensely from it.

But for the Iraqi people, the brutal U.S. occupation has brought death, lawlessness, kidnappings and has decimated their cities. It has taken away most of their hospital and medical services, and much of their electricity, sewage treatment, gasoline, schools for their children, neonatal care for their babies and almost everything else a civil society values.

U.S. soldiers, death squads, kidnappers and others kick in their doors and intimidate them, and sometimes do much worse, including killing them. And any Iraqi at any time is subject to being seized and tortured.

The Iraq war has cost hundreds of thousands of lives, and caused more than 2 million Iraqis to flee their country. If this is U.S. style democracy, they don't want it and I don't think anyone else would either.

If Mr. Bush and Congress want to find the people responsible for this colossal failure, they need only look in the mirror. And you and I as Americans share in this responsibility if we don't try to stop it.

Dick