A return to ‘Groundhog Day?’
From November 5th, 2003 to sometime in 2005, Swopa used to regularly post ‘Groundhog Day’ news bits covering what seemed to be the same news of one or a few US soldiers blown to bits or some attack on civilians in the Iraqi Quicksand.
Then for a time, things seemed to stabilize. Shrubya claimed it was his surge, Petraeus claimed credit for the military’s initiative to bribe the Sunni insurgents, and the reality-based community reckoned it was because most conflict neighborhoods had already been ‘cleansed’ and the US troops withdrew into their fortifications (removing easy targets).
Well it seems that minus the intra-Shi’ite political maneuverings, Groundhog Day appears to be making a comeback. In today’s news, 3 more US soldiers were killed in a bombing, and suicide attacks are back to being regular news stories.
Swopa really called it when he mused that Obama had walked into a policy trap set for him by Shrubyian dead-enders in the military.
Obama really needs to take a lesson from Israel’s unilateral withdrawal from Lebanon a few years back – otherwise, he could well be facing another several years of Groundhog Days as various Iraqi factions pull off stunts designed to keep us trapped in Quicksand.
*Update* UK PM Gordon Brown apparently doesn’t read the same news that Swopa & I read – apparently the British there was a ‘success!’ As a village idiot once said: “Heckuva job, Brownie!”
Stumble it!
Tags: gordon brown, Iraq, Iraqi Quicksand, israel, Lebanon, Shi'ite
May 1st, 2009 at 2:02 pm
I was having the same thoughts as you — see my post above.
May 1st, 2009 at 5:17 pm
Heh your post was much more thoughtful than mine though
May 1st, 2009 at 9:30 pm
Putting up one serious post a week has its benefits.
That post started on Monday as one about reconciliation not happening in Iraq. Then later in the week, I thought, “I should do a post about Obama’s news conference.” Then today I was trying to think of a quick post to fill my FDL slot, and came up with the opening part about Mission Accomplished… and then it all came together.
May 2nd, 2009 at 10:09 am
I figured Obama would try to extricate us in the 16 month time window he described, with a little luck, but now I think we are stuck for at least 4 years.