Desperate Times

As I pointed out below it would appear that George W Bush is going to roll the Iraqi roulette wheel one more time and put all his now borrowed chips on the outcome. Bush is trying to salvage his legacy, the neocons like Bill Kristol, Fred Barnes and Fred Kagan are trying to salvage the reputations and Dick Cheney is trying to salvage the control of middle east oil. The odds are against them but at this point they have nothing to lose. Iraq is a chaotic debacle, quagmire is too kind a word. The reason of course is they did and continue to do all the wrong things. Who says so you might ask? The US military, that's who.

New manual at odds with key Iraq tactics
The counterinsurgency doctrine warns about practices still in use, such as big bases that may signal occupation.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. military's new counterinsurgency doctrine takes issue with some key strategies that American commanders in Iraq continue to use, most notably the practice of concentrating combat forces in massive bases rather than dispersing them among the population.

The 282-page counterinsurgency field manual, unveiled Friday, seeks to bring together the best practices in fighting sustained insurgencies that the United States has learned during the Iraq war. It also lists tactics that have tripped up American forces, such as trying to make local security forces act like the U.S. military and overemphasizing killing or capturing enemies rather than providing for the safety of the population.

As we should realize by now the major goal of the Cheney wing was too secure control of the oil resources. This required the establishment of a permanent military presence and large basis. That is why this portion of the manual is significant.

Perhaps the most controversial section may be the manual's warning about large, sprawling bases, the very kind the Army has erected in Baghdad. The manual warns that such military bases could suggest "a long-term foreign occupation."

As we see a vast majority of Iraqis now see the US as occupying invaders making it likely that additional US troops will only make things much worse. The Iraqi government realizes this and has opposed additional US troops. Desperate times for all.

This is a bet it all strategy for the neocons, Bush and Cheney and we will all be the victims when they lose.