More on Iraq withdrawal...

I wanted this week's 'toon to be more of a comment on the appropriateness of withdrawal from Iraq given the current situation there, as opposed to yet another diatribe on the dubious morality of the war in general or how dumb it was for us to go there in the first place.

Here's some articles:

• Check out this astounding report from Gareth Porter of Inter Press Service, which says that Democratic timetables for withdrawal have contained huge loopholes allowing for the indefinite continuation of military operations in Iraq in an effort to fight al-Qaeda (an idea supported by Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton). More importantly, it claims that the Sunni insurgents are a much more effective force against al-Qaeda in Iraq than the U.S. military. Apparently, the Sunni insurgents and al-Qaeda have some significant differences in their agendas, which has culminated in hostilities between the two groups. Of course, the administration has known this for a while, but has refused to pursue this option because it would take away their ability to blame Democrats for being "defeatist."
  
  Ned Parker agrees that supporting the Sunni insurgents is indeed a viable option, but he also seems to think that the administration is actually pursuing this now. However, Carpetbagger noted as recently as December of '06 that Dick Cheney was vigorously supporting the "80 percent solution," which essentially involved the U.S. supporting the Shiite majority's efforts to wipe out the Sunnis (which apparently is bordering on ethnic cleansing in some areas).


• Here's something I wanted to work into the 'toon, but it was kind of off the subject a little. Lewis Seiler and Dan Hamburg answer the question of why there was no exit plan from Iraq: obviously, cuz we never planned on leaving. They quote Jimmy Carter, who agrees that "there are people in Washington... who never intend to withdraw military forces from Iraq... the reason that we went into Iraq was to establish a permanent military base in the Gulf region."
  
  As we know, President Dipshit has made it clear that we will not withdraw from Iraq "so long as ah'm the prez-uh-dint." Why is anybody buying this crap about "evaluating the surge in September?" David Peck wonders what "standard of failure" they're going to use when they do this evaluation. Also, Noam Chomsky (in a rare joint-interview with Howard Zinn) says: sure we can "win" in Iraq... if by "winning" you mean wiping out the entire country.
  
  See also a column by the great Helen Thomas on Bush's efforts to "run out the clock and pass the war on to his successor at the White House."


• Check out Joseph Galloway on the damn Democrats trying to substitute their opinions for the judgment of the decider-guy.
  
  Also, Yossi Melman gives a bit of a schizophrenic assessment of the situation in Iraq, which tends to be the case with many such assessments. He argues that our withdrawal from Iraq will create a "domino" effect (nice choice of words, dude) that will totally destabilize the region. However, he also says that "to remain in Iraq is the worst decision possible."