[Skybird]

Figthing stupid and in the main unwinnable wars that were almost a lost case from the very beginning is no sign of ripeness and reason - but stupidity and blind "actionism". No reason to be proud, but to mourn for the absence of reason. And when fighting, doing it in a most incompetent way, with too much restrictions and too little support, is even more stupid. There is a saying about Hannibal: "You know how to win in battle, but you do not know how to make good use of your victory." Bush/Blair Rumsfeld certainly do not know how to make use of victories (think back at the early beginning of Afghanistan's post-war time, the many promises for assistance that were never kept and the Afghans mainly were left alone, than the US forging alliances with criminal clans and organizations, trusting such structures, finally massively manipulating the election process and trying to install puppets from the outside no Afghan had ever heared of, and doing so against his will - no wonder they turn their backs on us), and when I see with how limited forces on the ground both wars are fought, I also doubt that Rumsfeld (or Olmert) knows how to even win a war. Dilletantism it is called.

You can hope irrationally for that the good fairy queen may turn things in your favour, but looking at the situations in Afghanistan, Irak (and now Lebanon) with a more reasonable mindset results in knowing that it never will happen. That is no pessimistic hoping or wishing for the worst, that is just a realistic assessement. What you evade in the main is admitting that the decisions made were wrong and that those that made them were failing by that, and that you supported them was not especially clever. Like a little kid gets caught with his hands in the candy box and still saying "it is not me!"

You screwed up, from the very beginning, by allowing incompetent fools to make the decisions. That's what happens if you allow politicians to plan wars. The mess, as always, has to be suffered and cleaned behind you by others. It was forseeable from the very beginning, and it has been forseen by many. But you wanted to show your determination and ablity "to act", as you call it, and being better than those stupid Europeans that were whining about Islam and did not engage in activity. How pathetic your motives were! But the actions you came up with were not helpful or constructive, and they strengthened the opposite effects than what you wanted to acchieve, and you actively helped to turn already bad things into worse ones. You have pushed Iraq into the open arms of Iran. Now you hope fopr the Iranioan opposition to save your lost case for you - but ignoring that it was you yourself that helped to crush this opposition some years ago by answering it's carefull calls for more liberties with complete ignorrationa nd hostile rethoric salvos that only served the purposes of the conservatives, for the opposition did not want to take over the complete American model, and that is an affront that you do not forgive. There is nothing better, more free and more democratic than America, how could anyone dare to deny that and not wanting to be like that...? Reminds me of your expectations that the Shias in Iraq will be eternally thankful - despite the fact that you once led them into a rebellion against saddam - and let them down then, resulting in the murdering of tens of thousands of theirs. You have initiated and advertised the greatest and finest terrorist breeding program terror organizations could have hoped for. You stretched your lines beyond reason, got bogged down in two wars, waste your reserves and potentials of your forces - that are well-trained and equipped, but limited in size and availability - and ignore that these are the forces that you maybe soon will need in the real decisive conflicts to come. You wasted your possebilities headlessly, instead of preserving them for the important fights. And while you got them engaged, you still do not put your heart into it and do not do what really needs to be done in war, and fight with a bounded hand. If I were a soldier in your armies, I would wish you to hell for the mess you created - all for nothing, and just to helpt the effect to make our enemies stronger. at the same time you still do business and alliances with highly suspicious states like Saudi Arabia and especially Pakistan, and you tell egypt to become more liberal so that the Islamic fundamentalists have it easier to take it over.

In one year the situation in Afghanistan (since four years constantly detoriating) and Iraq will be even worse than it is today, and today it is already worse than it was one, two, three years ago. But you will still sit here and insist that the thing is open and yet waits to see a decision.

That is not just the arrogance of empires anymore, but a pathologic loss of sense for reality.

Pride cannot replace reason and sense for reality. It just makes you ending up with your head stuck in the wall.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5319522.stm

Professor Michael Clarke of King's College, London, is gloomy in the short term at least.
"If I was Osama Bin Laden sitting in my cave, I would think I was winning," he said.
"I would consider that I am still at large, I have a global movement, I strike a chord with young Muslims everywhere, I am an inspiration not a planner and I have lured the US into wars in Afghanistan and Iraq of my choosing and of my way of fighting. "Nor is the West countering the easy narrative offered by the jihadis. They are, and I agree with the Bush language on this, Islamic fascists, but we are not engaging enough in the war of ideas and are instead dwelling on their actions. They can counter that by dwelling on ours, in a game of moral equivalence."

I do not agree with all of that article, but with much, and it's general aiming direction, and it highlights some aspects again that already are forgotten today, loiek the shifting in the goals of war, from preventing WMD to war ion terror and so forth. The phrase "Islamic facism" is nonsens, nevertheless, for that phrase it referring to a special and typical set of cultural and political and time-depending constellations in Europe, and especially Italy and Germany. It should be labelled "Muhammedan totalitarism".

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5326790.stm

Baghdad violence 'not declining'

The Iraqi ministry of health says more than 1,500 people were killed in attacks in Baghdad last month.

The figure is far higher than previously thought, and only slightly lower than July's figure.
US military and Iraqi officials had previously said a major new security operation in Baghdad had dramatically reduced the number of killings.
In the latest violence, three people were killed by a bomb in the Karrada district on Friday.
The bomb apparently targeted a local police commander, who survived the attack.

Revised numbers

The Iraqi health ministry says its final count for violent deaths in Baghdad in August is 1,536.

That is nearly three times the same ministry's estimate issued last week.
Correspondents say this indicates a nearly undiminished level of sectarian and insurgent killings.
Last month the US military spokesman in Iraq, Maj Gen William Caldwell, said the rate of violent deaths in Baghdad had fallen significantly from July to August.
US officials had suggested that the murder rate in Baghdad had dropped 52% in August compared to the daily rate for July. The health ministry's figures are complied from reports by hospitals and mortuaries in Baghdad area.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/5326060.stm

Nato troops took over leadership of military operations in the region from the US in July. Many analysts believe there were serious shortcomings in the intelligence assessments that established the initial mission, and that harder fighting was to be expected.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/5313376.stm

We're fighting a war in southern Afghanistan. This is not an enhanced peace support operation. (...)
Winning engagements and inflicting serious casualties on the Taleban are essential but not sufficient conditions for victory.