2008 Woodie Awards
Slow progress in Iraq frustrates Americans
Benjamin Harris
Issue date: 4/14/08 Section: Features
The senior commander of our armed forces in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, testified before Congress last week.
Obviously, with an important election coming up this year, and with the Iraq situation being as central as it is, a lot of people are paying close attention to the testimony.
President Bush weighed in by saying, "The day will come when Iraq's a stable democracy that helps fight our common enemies and promote our common interests in the Middle East."
The first question out of the mouth of any patriot should be, "do you have any evidence to support that claim?"
Mike Turner said this in 2004: "We are nose-deep in a protracted insurgency, an occupying Christian power in an oil-rich, Arab country. That country is not now and has never been a single nation. A single, unified, democratic Iraq comprised of Kurds, Shiites and Sunnis is a willfully ignorant illusion at best."
Of course, Turner is obviously just another hippie tree-hugger, right? Well, not exactly. According to MSNBC, Retired Air Force Col. Mike Turner is a former military planner who served on the U.S. Central Command planning staff for operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm.
Before retiring in 1997, he spent four years as a strategic policy planner for the Joint Chiefs of Staff specializing in Middle East/Africa affairs. He is a 1973 graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy and a former fighter pilot and air-rescue helicopter pilot.
But, the "surge" is working, right? Petraeus and the armed forces are to be commended for the improving security conditions.
Unfortunately, as Petraeus himself noted, progress is slow, fragile and reversible. He also said that as of now there is "no light at the end of the tunnel," meaning that there is no conclusive evidence that the outcome predicted by President Bush is necessarily more likely than that predicted by Turner.
This information must be weighed against the reality that our resources are finite with regards to our ability to "stay the course."
Obviously, with an important election coming up this year, and with the Iraq situation being as central as it is, a lot of people are paying close attention to the testimony.
President Bush weighed in by saying, "The day will come when Iraq's a stable democracy that helps fight our common enemies and promote our common interests in the Middle East."
The first question out of the mouth of any patriot should be, "do you have any evidence to support that claim?"
Mike Turner said this in 2004: "We are nose-deep in a protracted insurgency, an occupying Christian power in an oil-rich, Arab country. That country is not now and has never been a single nation. A single, unified, democratic Iraq comprised of Kurds, Shiites and Sunnis is a willfully ignorant illusion at best."
Of course, Turner is obviously just another hippie tree-hugger, right? Well, not exactly. According to MSNBC, Retired Air Force Col. Mike Turner is a former military planner who served on the U.S. Central Command planning staff for operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm.
Before retiring in 1997, he spent four years as a strategic policy planner for the Joint Chiefs of Staff specializing in Middle East/Africa affairs. He is a 1973 graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy and a former fighter pilot and air-rescue helicopter pilot.
But, the "surge" is working, right? Petraeus and the armed forces are to be commended for the improving security conditions.
Unfortunately, as Petraeus himself noted, progress is slow, fragile and reversible. He also said that as of now there is "no light at the end of the tunnel," meaning that there is no conclusive evidence that the outcome predicted by President Bush is necessarily more likely than that predicted by Turner.
This information must be weighed against the reality that our resources are finite with regards to our ability to "stay the course."
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