Thank You, Ms. Hess
“What happens if we lose?” The question no one in the media … except me* and a few others, in fairness to us … is asking.
“If as a reporter you do ask the national security question, all of a sudden you’re carrying Bush’s water.”
Pamela Hess of UPI just pointed out the the Imperial media is naked.
Why is no one asking this question? It is a fundamental tenet of journalism that you have to examine all sides of an issue. This one gets lip service, brief mentions as a nod to fairness to the hated administration and its supporters.
As Hess notes, the media is distracted by the shiny object of the political fight. The major news organizations, with a few exceptions, have not accepted that we are engaged in a necessary war, and are opposed to the Bush administration on this and other issues. Their reporting makes it clear they consider it an unnecessary war within a conflict they believe should be handled as a police matter.
Other ignored facts about the Iraq war.
Had we not invaded Iraq, the sanctions regime would have collapsed by now, and Saddam, like the Iranians, would have an active nuclear weapons program. We would be looking at two murderous regimes in an arms race, not one.
Iraq’s ethnic tensions would presumeably still be simmering quietly under Saddam’s program of murder and torture. That status quo would last exactly as long as Saddam did. Then, it would explode. Only it would be exploding into open civil war that would make Bosnia look like a picnic, instead of the severely constrained sectarian violence we see today. Syria and Iran would also be involved. We would not be involved. Good, yes?
No. We would have little ability to control and influence events in one of the most critical regions of the world, the one where all the oil is, the one that produces the bulk of the world’s terrorism.
These are not hypotheticals. Key elements of the above could still come true. All we have to do is walk away.
*Past posts:
US Tribal Feuds Fuel Iraqi Sectarian Violence
There’s more, but you get the point
Meanwhile, here are some of the others:
Don Surber, herd mentality.
Ed Williams, “What if U.S. just pulled out of Iraq? Conflict might erupt into more than just a civil war between Iraqis”
Topics: Uncategorized
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 9:40 pm on Sunday, January 14, 2007
7 Responses to “Thank You, Ms. Hess”
Leave a Reply
Trackback URLYou must be logged in to post a comment.
January 14th, 2007 at 10:15 pm
Or maybe we could have done something to dissuade Iran from building nukes had we not shown how impotent we are in Iraq…
It won’t make a bit of difference if we pull out of Iraq today or five years from now…it will still be run by the Shiites who are friendly with Iran.
At least the fringe right now realizes they lost this war…a refreshing change from past propaganda.
January 14th, 2007 at 10:30 pm
huh? Do you have any military or foreign policy analysis to back any of that up, Alphie? It just sounds like the old predictions and complaints, with a highly premature claim of vindication.
Jules, thank you for giving credit where it is due. From whatever starting point one wants to take - 1979, 1993, 2001, 2003 - the issue has always been “There are no great choices. What’s the least bad solution?” In their eagerness to show that all Bush’s choices have been bad, the Democrats and MSM have limited our options throughout.
January 14th, 2007 at 10:34 pm
Or maybe we could have done something to dissuade Iran from building nukes
Such as? A single example here would help your cause considerably..
January 14th, 2007 at 10:40 pm
Props to Ms. Hess for speaking the truth…whether the MSM will even acknowledge what she said is still the question, but good for her for daring to say it.
I find it disturbing that the fellow on the panel - “professional journalist guy” - did the breathless “this administration fabricated intel” and never got called on it. How can Bush have “fabricated” the same stuff Clinton and Albright and France and Blair and everyone else was saying? That’s the lie that won’t die, the “Bush lied” lie.
Still, this makes me hopeful. A little.
January 14th, 2007 at 10:52 pm
And the Turks from the north. A big, honking mess, much bigger than we have now.
January 14th, 2007 at 11:41 pm
Maybe we could have offered to get rid of Saddam and put their pals the Shiites in charge of Iraq for them, PA.
January 15th, 2007 at 4:03 am
Maybe we could have offered to get rid of Saddam and put their pals the Shiites in charge of Iraq for them
So you’d spend US soldier’s lives to give a country to the Iranians for free? Wow, such a deal!
I think that pretty much sums up where your headspace is at.