Slap in The Face For Bush, McCain & Palin

So here we are arguing back and forth – pull out with a timetable, pull out without one. McCain, and Palin ridiculed Obama for wanting to set a timetable and said it showed his lack of experience in such matters and they endorsed Bush’s inane view that pulling out with a timetable was equal to defeat.

Defeat of what I ask? Because no one has won anything in Iraq and no one is likely to win anything in Iraq. Iraq is pretty much as it was except about a million more dead, a completely destroyed infrastructure and the loss of most of its academics. Other than that – yes, Saddam Hussein is no more, but what difference does that make in a country where people are still being blown to bits and tortured on a regular basis?

Setting a timetable for withdrawal is hardly likely to make things worse. But the Bush Administration won't have any of it because they still hope for some kind of miracle when they can pull out with clean hands and demonstrating strength and control.

So it’s slightly more than laughable, that the latest draft for the U.S.-Iraq Status of Forces agreement on the U.S. military presence states unequivocally that US forces are to withdraw by the end of 2011 as reported by Gareth Porter of IPS. It is unambiguous and clear. What is also clear is that even a non-combat US presence in that country is not wanted and will not be tolerated.

I’m laughing my socks off because here’s McCain and his hound dog Palin pretending like they’re going to make the rules.In fact, the only thing standing in the way of this agreement being ratified, is that the Shiites under Moqtada El Sadr, remember him, are revolting against it because they consider the pullout date for US troops to be too late.

This development signifies the entire loss of not only bargaining power but also legitimacy of the Bush regime with regards to Iraq. Here they were pontificating about how they would decide when to pull out the troops when in fact, it had already been decided by the Iraqis:

When Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited Baghdad Aug. 21, the United States accepted for the first time a firm date of 2011 for complete withdrawal

The Oct. 13 final draft, a translation of which was posted by Raed Jarrar on his website Oct. 20, reveals that the Bush administration has been forced to give up its aims of softening the deadline for withdrawal and of a residual non-combat force in the country.

The collapse of the Bush administration's ambitious plan for a long-term U.S. presence in Iraq highlights the degree of unreality that has prevailed among top U.S. officials in both Washington and Baghdad on Iraqi politics. They continued to see the Maliki regime as a client which would cooperate with U.S. aims even after it was clear that Maliki's agenda was sharply at odds with that of the United States.

"The degree of unreality.....

"Vote for McCain if you want another four years of a few more degrees of unreality. Barack got it right again.

One million?

We will probably never know the full extent of the damage caused by the Iraq war and we will probably never know the real cost in human lives. But some groups are trying to find the latter out and the way they go about it is that they are questioning members of individual families about deaths related to the conflict within that family.

The latest poll conducted by ORB and published by Reuters has been shocking:

LONDON, Jan 30 (Reuters) - More than one million Iraqis have died as a result of the conflict in their country since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, according to research conducted by one of Britain's leading polling groups.

The poll has an accuracy, says ORB, of 1.7%. However, even if the poll was out by 20% it would be a statistic to make one pause and think.

It would also be a statistic that finally puts to bed the question of whether toppling Saddam was worth it or not.

If at all accurate, it would mean that George Bush put into motion events that killed a million people who shouldn’t have been killed. His ‘oops’ caused a million deaths. That’s the sort of figure that would normally carry the tag of “mass murderer.”