Don't blame the troops...!

[Bullypulpit]

...For the failure of the Bush administration's failure in Iraq. If you start with flawed assumption, all the decisions that spring from it will be equally, if not more, flawed than the original assumption.

<blockquote>In Iraq, Bush and the neoconservative policymakers in the Pentagon and in Vice President Dick Cheney's office had a democracy theory: Implanting democracy in Iraq would be easy, and from there it would spread to Syria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and beyond.</blockquote>

The strategies that arose from that assumption have been disastrous to the US military, the people of Iraq and America's reputation. The troops on the ground in Iraq have tried, heroically, to implement these flawed strategies, based more on the Bush administrations political considerations than the reality on the ground.

<blockquote>“If the strategy is wrong and the policy is wrong, you can’t blame the people implementing it. They are trying to implement a political strategy that won’t work. It’s very difficult to turn the train around,” - <a href=http://www.mcclatchydc.com/226/v-print/story/18667.html>A Veteran General</a></blockquote>

 

[Ruby]

The idea that you can invade and bomb people into emmulating what we think might be the best way for them to run their country and calling it "bringing democracy" is a joke at best, and terrorism at worst. The idea of "forcing democracy" is an oxymoron.

Self-determination is the very basis for a democratically run nation so it cannot be FORCED from anyone on the outside. I also dont think we ever went in with the intention of bringing democracy, the authors of this war wanted the permanant bases and to change Iraqs economic policy to suit american interests (not just oil but a slew of other changes as well).

This is certainly not the reason we have a military nor it is a proper use of our military nor is it proper regard for their lives (not to mention the lives of the Iraqis).