Antiwar.com Blog

Devil’s advocate on “postwar” Iraq: Why withdraw? The Bush administration will be blamed for what happens in Iraq whether U.S. troops stay or leave. If they stay, every dead soldier and civilian, plus general unrest, will be blamed on the occupation. If they leave, critics of the war (especially in Europe) will blame Bush for leaving the country rudderless, ruined, a vacuum waiting to be filled by al-Qaeda or ayatollahs.

To which I say: Damn right, and deservedly so. Bush launched this stupid war, so whatever comes of it should be laid at his feet. But between a permanent occupation and quick withdrawal, the latter option is distinctly superior from both a moral and strategic viewpoint. As Ted Rall puts it:

The bloodshed may continue after we leave–and we’ll be partly to blame for that. But until we pull out, the carnage is all ours.

The warbots had ample warning (not only from places like antiwar.com, but also from their own intelligence agencies) that the current chaos would ensue post-invasion. There is no way to reverse what has been done. But Bush and co. can refrain from compounding their errors. The Iraqis have suffered enough; let’s not wait until they take spectacular revenge on us before we withdraw.

My new article, now online. Try to find all the thought crimes I’ll be charged with in my forthcoming PATRIOT Act indictment!

For some reason, foreigners are less than wild about the idea. The great Moja, U.S. Army sergeant in Iraq, thinks he knows why:

i get the feeling these countries offering their support want to make a good impression…they want to be seen as professional world powers…and helpful allies…but still they are only here…so far…in one’zees and two’zees…

but i wonder…how many of my troops would i send from mojaland…to take the burden off a country that started a war…and quite possibly bit off more than it’s ‘1st world mouth’ could chew…how many troops would i be willing to quite possibly sacrifice so that american troops could hop on a plane…and head back to the great states of america…

What are the odds that Spain, Nicaragua, Poland, Ethiopia, or Lithuania will adopt the angry orphan we created?

Azerbaijan, of course. They’re tilting dangerously toward monarchy, and that “poses a grave challenge to Western policy planning,” says the Weekly Standard.

From the Justice Department’s new website pushing the Patriot Act comes this list of supportive quotes from the likes of Daschle, Feinstein, Biden, Edwards, and Schumer (brief pause to spit after enunciating that last one). Note that all of the statements by these and other Democrats, most of whom have come to oppose the Patriot Act, are from October 2001, when our Congressmorons were rushing to pass a bill that none of them had actually read. Who knew that John Ashcroft–who lost his Senate seat to a corpse–was this politically astute?

Anyway, serves the invertebrate bastards right to have their words thrown back at them. They sold their souls (and, I fervently hope, their reelections) without checking the large print, much less the fine.

Jeez, you spend a coupla days in the wilderness without a computer, and you miss all the excitement. I’m referring, of course, to the latest eruption of tensions between Antiwar.com and Reason. Justin vented a bit on Wednesday, Nick Gillespie responded, and Justin made nice all without my getting to throw a single punch. Meanwhile, Jesse Walker and Julian Sanchez pled not guilty to warmongering (see comments under Gillespie’s post), Jim Henley threatened to expose this as-yet top secret blog, and Tim Cavanaugh got one more swipe in slightly after the bell.

By the way, the essay Tim is plugging actually makes oblique reference to my prewar salvo at Ron Bailey, “One Toke over the Line, Sweet Reason.” Shoulda given me props, Tim; this ceasefire is fragile enough without gratuitous ego-bruising.