In response to Kissinger’s statement, that even I, in my congested haze could understand, C-Span’s Washington Journal took callers on whether Kissinger was right or not. Hey, this the big topic of the morning, and one must note that Kissinger’s interview was with the BBC, and not any US paper.
"If you mean by ‘military victory’ an Iraqi government that can be
established and whose writ runs across the whole country, that gets the
civil war under control and sectarian violence under control in a time
period that the political processes of the democracies will support, I
don’t believe that is possible," he said.
The NYTimes has bit more than the WaPo, including this quote:
‘I think we have to redefine the course, but I don’t think that the
alternative is between military victory, as defined previously, or
total withdrawal,” he said.
So, back to Washington Journal. A woman called in, said Kissinger was totally wrong, etc., and was asked how we can win the war in Iraq. Her answer, and I’m paraphrasing, but I think this is pretty darn close,
"The nation must bend it’s knee and pray, pray honestly."
That’s all fine and dandy, however, praying does not address the massive amount of corruption and fraud that is part of this war. Praying does not address the soldiers that come home to no jobs. Oh, and by the way, the military doesn’t want troops to see Cher’s documentary, which specifically addresses how the military is not there for the troops when they return home.
During one phone pitch to a Colorado base, a commanding officer told a
Focus Features distribution exec that the content of the film was
"inappropriate" and would be "detrimental" to the servicemen and their
families.
[...]"I understand why the Armed Forces would be
afraid to show this film because it shows the huge gap in recognizing
and providing help for returning soldiers’ psychological and physical
needs," Sarandon told us.
If that’s not bad enough, Human Rights Watch put out a 97-page report on Saddam Hussein’s trial. This goes beyond the fact that it was a nothing more than a Kangaroo Kourt.
The trial of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, in which he was
sentenced this month to death by hanging, was marred by flaws so
serious that they undermined the trial’s fairness and called into
question the verdict, an international human rights watchdog group said
in a report to be released Monday.From the outset, the Iraqi
High Tribunal’s independence and perceived impartiality was weakened by
actions of the Iraqi government, Human Rights Watch said in the
97-page, 10-month-long analysis of the trial, which condemned Hussein
and seven co-defendants for the torture and execution of 148 people in
the hamlet of Dujail more than two decades ago.
This report does not mean that Hussein is not guilty, but that the trial itself was severely flawed. When someone is guilty, the prosecution still needs to turn over documents to the defense. Nor should the Iraqi government be pressuring the court justices. It is these behaviors that take away credibility to the process.
