Backpedalling and backfilling

Officials Back Away from Early Estimates of Iraqi Voter Turnout

Looks like the leader in the Iraqi elections isn't the best possible option for the U.S.


Wow! Okay, Okay. I'll add some chum to the waters.

Here's something to think about: If the Iraqi people, of their own volition, elect into office the next Saddam Hussein, or worse, will it (still) have been worth going to war to accomplish?

Let's just for argument's sake say that the next leader of Iraq, after he/she takes office, says "That's it. That's the last vote we'll ever have. The people have spoken and said that they don't want democracy, because they elected me, and I have a MANDATE from the people!" Will the 1500 dead Americans, tens of thousands of injured Americans, hundreds of thousands of dead and injured Iraqis, have been worth it?

If you blindly say "Hell Yeah!" then good for you. Go back to chewing your cud.

This is a possibility that we certainly should have thought about when we began prosecuting this war in Iraq. There is something happening in Iraq that our policy makers here haven't begun to think about. There is a significant percentage of people who actually LIKED Saddam Hussein. There is an even greater percentage of the Iraqi population that are now institutionalized. They have a prisoners mentality. When let free, a certain percentage of paroled prisoners WANT to go back to prison, where 'things make sense'. There is NOTHING that the US can do about them from here. Not with what we have.

Let's face it, we exacted a war in Iraq without the resources necessary to complete the tasks we set out to do. What we have done over there is take a starving dog and give him 1500 lbs of prime rib wrapped in Saran Wrap. He is still hungry because he doesn't know what to do with what has been given to him. He can't unwrap it. He's still starving. The huge thing just scares the hell out of him. Worse, when he gets through the Saran Wrap, he'll eat enough to kill himself.