Summary:

A new study by the Pentagon’s premier military educational institute has concluded the war in Iraq has become “a major debacle” and the outcome “is in doubt” despite the so-called surge. The opening line of the report says, “Measured in blood and treasure, the war in Iraq has achieved the status of a major war and a major debacle.” The study was released by the National Institute for Strategic Studies, a Pentagon research center.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20...latchy/2913186


To read the report: www.ndu.edu/inss/Occasional_Papers/OP5.pdf

When McCain said we might be there for 100 years I thought about the British in Northern Ireland. 100 years seems about right.

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If he ever had to eat his own words he'd die of malnutrition.
Colin P. Varga 1991

imperial occupation

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"People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people".

Tired of the same old reruns of the Shia-Sunni simmering civil war?

Don't worry all new episodes of inter-Shia warfare are on tap for this Fall.

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A song that says it all.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqITJFGyq4s

The Brits were in India for 300 years, and the place still dissolved into civil war when they left.

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"The whole modern world has divided itself into Conservatives and Progressives. The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes. The business of the Conservatives is to prevent the mistakes from being corrected." G.K. Chesterton

The problem for the British was either a lack of commitment or not having an exit strategy. Of course we shouldn't "misunderestimate" a little person in homespun cloth. Maybe Iraq produce someone like this.

"misunderestimate" I know this is a word because I heard the president say it.

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If he ever had to eat his own words he'd die of malnutrition.
Colin P. Varga 1991

Hey who is Major Debacle anyway.

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If he ever had to eat his own words he'd die of malnutrition.
Colin P. Varga 1991

I believe he serves under General Disaster.

I'm in the middle of James Sheehan's "Where Have All the Soldiers Gone?", which examines why Europe and the United States have diverged so on the issue of whether to use force. Part of his argument is that Europe blundered into the Great War (WWI) because its nations had self-definitions which were essentially militaristic. Everything they valued about being German or British or French essentially boiled down to their ability to kick butt. European colonies gave them places to practice kicking butt. For most Europeand, the experience of WWI soured them on the value of war. For Hitler and the Germans, of course, it did not.

In the post-WWII world, Europeans have ceded much of their national sovereignty to entities like NATO and the European Union (and its antecedents). So, nationhood is no longer tied as tightly to military force. Ergo, they don't need colonies to practice on.

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"The whole modern world has divided itself into Conservatives and Progressives. The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes. The business of the Conservatives is to prevent the mistakes from being corrected." G.K. Chesterton

Yeah but they still have the U.S. to help them secure Middle East Oil that they import more than we do. They'll jump in the fray as soon as access is threatened. Hence Nato...they just won't necessarily lead the charge and take on all the risk and blowback like we have decided to do.