Crocker and Petraeus explain why we're stuck in Iraq: Al Qaeda.
We're so hated for being their by the Iraqis that the buzzards from the rest of the Islamic fundamentalist world who hate us even more, like our friends the Saudis, are flocking to the place to wreak havoc.
So we can't leave without risking turning the place over to them and letting Iran pick up the pieces, along with Syria, while the fundamentalist Middle East revels in the glory of chasing us out, to our lasting discredit, the paper tiger or Great Satan on the run, take your pick.
Here's the skinny, from the WaPo. Explain to me again why we created this mess?
We've batted open the hornets nest and now have to endure getting stung until the hornets become butterflies. I don't see this happening any time soon, do you? And we can't leave because then our folly will become apparent even to us, as it is to the rest of the world.
This is crazy, isn't it?
Are we nuts?
Have we ever stopped being nuts since the McCarthy Era?
We continue to initiate, fight and escalate losing wars because to do otherwise would be to dishonor those we've already sacrificed among our troops, so therefore we must sacrifice more? And when does it end?
This wasn't clear for me during the Vietnam War, although it was for others. I knew less then. I'm a slow learner. But this is one lesson I've finally got. We're dangerous to ourselves and others. For this you get arrested in San Francisco and the rest of the country if you've been drinking or taking drugs.
What have we been taking?
Stupid pills?
Article published Sep 13, 2007
Petraeus blames al Qaeda
September 13, 2007
By Sara A. Carter - Army Gen. David H. Petraeus yesterday called al Qaeda the "wolf closest to the shed" and said he disagrees with Democrats' calls for an extensive withdrawal of troops from Iraq by next year.
"I did spend a fair amount of time the past few days talking about the consequences of an al Qaeda-Iraq sanctuary in that country, about the fact that we believe that al Qaeda-Iraq is off-balance," Gen. Petraeus told reporters at the National Press Club.
"They are the organization that has carried out the most horrific attacks in Iraq and in particular those that have sparked the much greater ethno-sectarian violence."
The U.S. commander in Iraq and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan C. Crocker, fresh off of two days of Capitol Hill testimony, said Iranian activity in Iraq is contributing to sophisticated attacks on coalition and Iraqi forces.
"Again, there's no question where they have come from," Gen. Petraeus said. "And the evidence is very, very clear. We captured it when we captured Qais Khazali, the Lebanese Hezbollah deputy commander, and others, and it's in black and white."
Gen. Petraeus said he would be uncomfortable calling for a troop reduction larger than the 30,000 he recommended to President Bush, who is expected to endorse it in a prime time address tonight.
Mr. Crocker reminded reporters that three of his past six years in the Foreign Service have been in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq and said al Qaeda's influence in the region should not be ignored.
"Those are all fronts in the fight against al Qaeda," Mr. Crocker said. "We have to assume that anywhere al Qaeda can find operating room, space, ability to organize, consolidate they're going to use that to come after us."
U.S. operations in Iraq over the past year have yielded results, said Gen. Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq. He added that the troop surge helped reduce al Qaeda's influence in the Euphrates River valley, Anbar province and Ramadi, and that "Baqouba has been cleared."
He noted that al Qaeda's bombing of the golden-domed al-Askari mosque in Samarra last year on Feb. 22 nearly tore the fabric of Iraq society apart. It was an attempt by al Qaeda to destabilize the fragile country and its fledgling political system, he said.
"We don't know what would happen if al Qaeda had a sanctuary in Iraq from which they could presumably export violence, perhaps train others," he added.
"We just don't know. Would it be focused in the Levant, in the Maghreb, in — back in Afghanistan, Western Europe, the United States?" he said. The first two refer to the countries of the eastern Mediterranean and northwest Africa, respectively.