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So I guess they're saying that they see the light at the end of the tunnel? No one with an ounce of brains who remembers Vietnam, will give the statements of the ambassador and general any credence whatsoever.

With the U.S. election eight days away, and the war in Iraq extremely unpopular should we be surprised when the US ambassador to Iraq, 'Zal' Khalilzad, and General George Casey, the commander of US and multinational forces in Iraq make an announcement that the war will be over soon? I don't think such obvious political manouvering will influence the votes of very many people.

Well, the voters believed this sort of garbage twice, who knows if they will believe it again. There must be a limit to the number of times a sucker will fall for the same line, even the sort of sucker who votes for the Bush administration and its flunkies.

Christopher
Christopher Hobe Morrison
chmorrison At frontiernet.net

Dear Adam,

Some things are beyond politics, and simply involve aspects of the human condition, and common sense.
If I were to have suggested to someone in 1947 that the Marshall plan would ultimately result in the present day EU, folks would have looked at me funny and thought I'd been at the pub too long.
The Iraqi situation may look as hopeless to some today as post war Europe did 60 years ago, but this too will change.
The key to peace in Iraq is regime change in Iran. Common sense dictates that if a fledgeling democracy has the world's leading sponsor of terrorism sharing a border, then you will have terrorism and state sponsored destabilisation to contend with as long as that state sponsor of terrorism exists next door. Or more correctly, at the front and back door at the same time, (including Syria in the mix).
Ask yourself why the US has three carrier battle groups on excercise in the Persian Gulf along with Brit and French forces alongside Kuwaiti and other Gulf nations involved.
The short answer is that diplomacy without teeth is a toothless beggar.

So then, once this fundemental aspect of the current Iraqi state of the human condition is understood, the solution becomes self-evident.
The International community must deal with the ethical infants among the family of nations, for their to be global peace and security, for it is patently obvious that this current level of unrest in Iraq could not exist without state support from quarters opposed to an Iraq, whole, free and at peace, especially if that outcome would in any way lend credibility to US foregn policy in the global war on terror.

But we've heard the "we've turned the corner, everything will be okay in twelve months" mantra too often before. Peace and stability in Iraq have been 6-12 months away ever since "Mission Accomplished"; yet three years down the line, the violence and chaos are as bad as ever. It's hard to take this month's prediction of a 12-month timeframe for stability seriously, when all the previous ones have turned out wrong.

Comment to Eric Jette:

Let's not give credit where credit is not due. Just as the Marshall Plan cannot be given credit for the "present day EU" (see Winston Churchill speech at Zurich University in 1946) as the Marshall Plan 's main objective was to stop the spread of communism NOT create a unified Europe, so too can the current AmeriBrit policy in the Middle East NOT be given credit for spread democracy in the hopes of creating a peaceful, prosperous Middle East. Eric, beyond your need to study history a bit closer, you also need to view the world in a less narrow perspective. Demcracy cannot be imported, either peacefully or with a toothfull tiger. Democracy is, and always must be, home-grown. Otherwise it is just another manisfestation of colonial superiority over the "ethical infants" of our world.

It's the 6-12 month mantra and the "domino theory".
Once Irak invaded, everything from Bagdad to Islamabad ( to say the least) would fit in its right place within the democtratic order.
Apparently nothing of this kind happened (as most people anticipated).
But the problem now is that after all, to really finish the job, Iran and Syria still need to be invaded.
And here they go again...
It was not about a "domino" of democratic revolutions it's about a string of "humanitarian" invasions.
Very much like the "marshall plan"?
Well... the tiny probability of one being able to come up with such parallelisms may indeed be the proof of "intelligent design".
Its wonderful, really.

Anyone who believes there can be peace and stability within Iraq whilst US troops are in the country has no understanding of the people, the country, the history or the situation to be worth listening too..

The Pentagon has a huge department dedicated to the media and control/spin of information.

You know, Democracy is not all it's cracked up to be anyway. Lets look at the US system, 1 vote for president every 4 years and once he is in power, he can do practically anything he wants.

Add to that a house and senate of the same party AND a few vacancies in the Supreme Court and you have just lost most of your checks and balances. So now you have 4 years of a dictatorship before then next democratic election.. or in the US example, a republic process since we vote only to ‘advise’ states which way to vote in the electoral college.

Most people, especially in the vastness of rural Arabia and Asia, just want to be left alone. They want a government that the US founding fathers envisaged, limited involvement and LOCAL control.

In the US, the rules, regulations, laws, by-laws and enormous government involvement dictate our every day lives. Are we free? Well, sure, I can I travel to another state.. but trying building a horse shelter on my land and the government rules are enough to supply a public toilet with enough paper for a month. The US government continues to grow at an alarming rate. Their ‘control’ of our lives increase with each administration. The tagging, recording, monitoring and restrictions increase all the time.

In Europe, we have the EU, which has probably surpassed the US in red tape, regulations and tree destroying proposals. Most Europeans just wanted free trade and easy travel. Instead we have an organization that burns money at an alarming rate (faster than it burns the extra food produced by government aided farms). Many people are un-elected and millions of people across Europe have had no say in this movement towards a united power.

Most noticeable, no one in Britain has had a vote on the new Union. The government says that by putting it’s party in power, that the people have given them the thumbs up to proceed!!

My point is, most people, especially those in Arabia and Asia, just want to be left alone. When you have to walk 2 miles for water or your food is dependant on a good crop, then Democracy is not very high on your list of concerns.

This is practically word for word what the warmongers in Washington were saying when we had only 3,000 killed in Vietnam. With the billions that Cheney and Halliburton have made so far in Iraq, imagine the fortune they will make by the time sixty or seventy thousand are killed in this criminal undertaking.