Really Pissed Off!

Is anyone really surprised regarding the contents of the General Davis Patreaus and Ryan Crocker Report? If you are, you had better stop playing those video games and pay attention to what’s happening in the real world! We already knew from previous reports, such as the GAO Report several weeks as well as our own eyes and ears, what was in that report. Yes…..General Patreaus handed Bush the green light to keep the troops in Iraq at pre-surge levels until next summer, while the meat grinder takes 60 to 70 American lives a month and God knows how many casualties….a number secretly kept from us by the Administration and the Pentagon. The 30, 000 troops returning from Iraq by March was already in the plans due to rotation problems of active service when it was extended by three months a year ago. Patreaus acknowledged this when confronted by Sen. Biden shortly after his opening statement. He answer was couched by the possibility of increasing the number of troops if necessary with the National Guard. It is clear that this Administration’s strategy until January 20, 2009 is to keep the status quo and let the next Administration try to clean up the mess!

What was more shocking was the report and response by Ambassador Ryan Crocker, the so called new “T.E. Lawrence of Arabia” of our State Department! What he said was absolutely nothing! This, however, may not be Ryan Crocker’s fault as the Bush Administration has drastically reduced the influence and demoralized those working in our State Department. The Bush Administration has made it perfectly clear that diplomacy and negotiation with anyone is a sign of weakness. What do you expect when you appoint your National Security Advisor as Secretary of State? Condoleezza Rice has added little impact to an organization that has consistently been in the forefront of out national stature and interest since the American Revolution. With a stranglehold on the State Department, the Bush Administration has replaced it with the Pentagon and the Secretary of Defense. Just a note of history, the position of the Secretary of Defense was formally named the Secretary of War until the end of World War II! That certainly applies to the situation you and I, as well as the rest of the world, are in now. All of this leads to the only answer that will bring about some form of resolution and peace to Iraq……open diplomacy and negotiations with Iraq’s neighbors, especially Iran and Syria!

Whoever is elected as President in 2008, whether he or she be Republican or Democrat, will have to face that the solution for peace in Iraq will only come about if we engage its neighbors into diplomacy, discussion and negotiation. We will have to swallow our pride and try to bring Iran to the negotiating table and point out that an unstable Iraq is not in Iran’s best interest in the Middle East…..in fact, it could be its worst nightmare! Since the fall of the Shah, our attitude towards Iran has been infantile! That can also be said of Iran! When The Eisenhower Administration sent Kermit Roosevelt Jr. to Iran in 1953 to organize “Operation Ajax,” and the overthrow of the government headed by Dr. Mohammed Mossadegh, we sealed our fate with the Iranian people. The Shah was brought back, although reluctantly….he was hiding in Italy and had to be flown in by the US Air Force…to set up a regime, which would bring terror to the people of Iran and profits to the oil companies. We stand with egg on our face with the people of the Islamic Republic of Iran. There is a saying in Iran…to paraphrase….”that Americans know too little of Iranians and Iranians know too much of Americans”…and the truth lies somewhere in between. Nevertheless, we must try to bring Iran to the table, as they are the key player in this. If they openly support the Shi’ia militia, that will bring in Saudi Arabia in to support the Sunni militia. Once the Western border of Iraq has exploded, Turkey will confront and possibly try to occupy Kurdistan, in Northern Iraq. The civil war in Iraq has now become a conflagration that will encompass The Middle East! Iran and the Mullahs, who are the government in Iran, do not want this situation. We have serious differences with Iran, but we must place them aside, as we did in the Cold War with the Soviet Union, and find some common ground to try to negotiate a peaceful solution to Iraq. Iran is the key, and how we deal with Iran will dictate what happens in the Middle East! Diplomacy can help replace chaos! We just have to use it!