![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
winterbadgerA blog of Congressional testimony on Iraq by two guys who are pretty smart.
including:
Odom again spoke about what would happen when/if the United States pulls out. The aftermath is going to be great, he said. It was going to be great the day you went in, but the longer you wait the greater it will be. And, Odom added to noticable effect, this will be the greatest strategic defeat in American history.
Congressman Rothman said that he had voted for the war because he had believed Bush and Rumsfeld, and that he now understood they had been lying. He said he saw the same approach now underway with Iran, and that he thought it was aimed at the coming U.S. elections.
Odom again spoke of leaving Iraq and said "It takes a very high level of ignorance to believe America can leave behind in Iraq any government that will not be anti-American."
But Odom argued that staying longer in Iraq would make things worse, whereas getting out would dramatically improve America's standing in the world. Our standing went up as soon as we got out of Vietnam, he said.
"Beating the war drums on Iran," Odom said, "is a disaster that will make this one look small."
...
Rep. Hinchey asked Odom "How do we get out?" Odom's reply came without a pause: "Well, the Constitution gives the House the right to impeach."
including:
Odom again spoke about what would happen when/if the United States pulls out. The aftermath is going to be great, he said. It was going to be great the day you went in, but the longer you wait the greater it will be. And, Odom added to noticable effect, this will be the greatest strategic defeat in American history.
Congressman Rothman said that he had voted for the war because he had believed Bush and Rumsfeld, and that he now understood they had been lying. He said he saw the same approach now underway with Iran, and that he thought it was aimed at the coming U.S. elections.
Odom again spoke of leaving Iraq and said "It takes a very high level of ignorance to believe America can leave behind in Iraq any government that will not be anti-American."
But Odom argued that staying longer in Iraq would make things worse, whereas getting out would dramatically improve America's standing in the world. Our standing went up as soon as we got out of Vietnam, he said.
"Beating the war drums on Iran," Odom said, "is a disaster that will make this one look small."
...
Rep. Hinchey asked Odom "How do we get out?" Odom's reply came without a pause: "Well, the Constitution gives the House the right to impeach."
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
Cutting one's losses
Date: 2006-10-05 10:43 am (UTC)Why is it ok to cut one's losses when you realize an investment in a stock or real estate has gone bad, but not ok to bail out of a war that is going horribly wrong?
Seriously. If I plopped a few thousand on Enron when it was flying high, saw my investment shrink to half the value I first invested, but realized I was in trouble - no one would have faulted me for bailing while I still had 50% of the original investment.
Why the firetruck won't the Congress of the United States wake up to the fact that Iraq is a losing proposition with no chance of victory? Get the heck out while someone is still alive.
I am not being defeatist here - I am being a realist. This war is between the rich weapons-makers and oil-contractors in the United States and the poor tax-payers of the United States. Iraqis are just the poor folks stuck in the line of fire - they don't win no matter what. The war is already over, the rich bastards won before a shot was fired. Pay them off and get the heck out fast before we have to pay any more on this stupid farce.
Stop the colonial adventurism.
Re: Cutting one's losses
Date: 2006-10-05 10:58 am (UTC)