Inconvenient Truths

8:06 pm EST June 19th, 2006 | Politics | 14 Comments

Not just the name of Al Gore’s book and movie, but the way things operate now

On June 18, The Washington Post published a cable sent from the U.S. Embassy in Iraq that detailed the deteriorating conditions observed in Baghdad in recent months. Despite the clear significance of the document, the media have almost entirely ignored its publication.

Some have said that this is akin to the Pentagon Papers, but the difference is the media actually had the cajones to cover the Pentagon Papers. The Post buried it, and the rest of the media is doing their best to pretend it away.

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14 Responses to “Inconvenient Truths”

  1. TomY says:
    June 19, 2006 at 8:06 pm

    Bush lost the war. There’s really nothing else to say.

  2. JWG says:
    June 19, 2006 at 9:06 pm

    How about it, Oliver. Do you agree that we “lost the war”?

  3. Bushwacked says:
    June 19, 2006 at 9:06 pm

    I for one am not saying the war is lost. Democracy in Iraq is still a possibility, but only if the Iraqis themselves take the initiative to keep it. But those in our government who refuse to change course for fear of losing face, may just end up losing it for us all.

  4. Frank_D says:
    June 19, 2006 at 9:06 pm

    Some have said that this is akin to the Pentagon Papers
    And some haven’t.
    TomY: tell me how in the world a war that isn’t over is lost. Or is it something I’d really rather not know.
    That’s my bet.

  5. TomY says:
    June 19, 2006 at 10:06 pm

    that’s “an anti-American terrorist breeding ground (a real one this time) for years to come now”.

  6. TomY says:
    June 19, 2006 at 10:06 pm

    “tell me how in the world a war that isn t over is lost”

    Just because we haven’t left doesn’t mean we haven’t failed. It is over. There was never any chance to impose a democracy. It was a bad, pie-in-the-sky idea from the get-go. We turned an autocracy into a Lebanon. It will be small scale civil war, ethnic cleansing, and anti-American for years to come now. We never should have gone to Iraq to begin with, and we should not commit more American lives to a failed project.

  7. z_adura says:
    June 19, 2006 at 10:06 pm

    You can rectify this idiotic gotcha debate with a simple answer, Oliver. The war ended 3 years ago with a relatively small loss of life or cost. Hardly anybody could dispute that.

    We have lost the occupation utterly and completely. Public services in Iraq are abysmal; militia factions are ethnically cleansing neighborhoods street by street, oil output and other economic activity is nearly non-existent. For this, we’ve paid $300 billion dollars and 2500 casualties.

  8. JWG says:
    June 19, 2006 at 11:06 pm

    oil output and other economic activity is nearly non-existent

    Iraq may not produce as much oil as they could without all the atacks, but 2 million barrels per day is a bit higher than “nearly non-existent.”

  9. z_adura says:
    June 20, 2006 at 12:06 am

    JWG, I think it’s really neat how you manage to parse out a single point from a sea of criticisms. Oil production is 2 mbpd, which is 0.8 mbpd less than they produced in 2003, 1.5 mbpd less than they supplied in 1979 and 8 mbpd less than they could produce at full output. All the while, unemployment hovers around 60% making for a ready force of disaffected insurgents. Of course in your zeal to state the positive, you overlooked every other point I made: namely, the sorry state of water, electricity and sanitation, the slow, bloody slip toward civil war, and the cost in American lives and treasure. I guess you’ve conceded these points…

    Since we’re playing gotcha politics, I have a proposition for all the full-time conservative critics here: Bush and Cheney said the war would cost about $50-$60 billion and would be paid for with oil revenues. Forget for a minute the absurdity of attacking a sovereign country and using their natural resources to pay the invading country’s war costs. Let’s just say that the total cost of this war/occupation per Joseph Stiglitz will be $1 trillion (conservative side). Who will buy my $50,000 car for $1,000,000?

  10. JWG says:
    June 20, 2006 at 8:06 am

    Of course in your zeal to state the positive, you overlooked every other point I made

    The only specific economic point you made was about oil. I replied to that. As to “other economic output” I wasn’t about to guess about which indicators you were referring.

    the sorry state of water, electricity and sanitation, the slow, bloody slip toward civil war, and the cost in American lives and treasure. I guess you ve conceded these points&

    Yes, actually, I do. I agree with the points, “Public services in Iraq are abysmal; militia factions are ethnically cleansing neighborhoods street by street.” I don’t agree with your economic statement.

  11. TomY says:
    June 20, 2006 at 9:06 am

    “details nothing about the military situation, tactical or strategic”

    More idiocy from a modern Redcoat. The right has never understood how or what this insurgency was being fought for. It’s not about whether our army can stay put in Iraq for a given amount of time. Nor is it about al-Qaeda, though they’re doubtless pleased at how we’ve flailed our way into the tar baby. It’s whether Iraq can be made into a functional society, or if instead, it will dissolve into social chaos. What we are witnessing is the death of Iraqi civil life at the hands of armed gangs, who are the only government most people have contact with, and whom we are powerless to stop. We gave Iraq over to the ethnic/religious warlords and their death squads. We turned a multiethnic and religiously vareigated society into one that’s slowly purging, homogenizing, and ethnically cleansing itself. We turned a contained, stable dictatorship into something worse than Lebanon, with no foreseeable corner anywhere in sight. We’ve already lost the war. And it only cost a trillion dollars. And the only one to blame, really, is Bush. Bring the troops home.

  12. Dugger says:
    June 20, 2006 at 9:06 am

    Wait a d*mn minute. This is about the experiences of a few of his staff members. And it details nothing about the military situation, tactical or strategic. Zero. Just the day to day trials and tribulations of a few people in Baghdad. One was about the ‘demeanor” of the people the person dealt with.

    Are you kidding?

    Dugger, Sheesh!

  13. TomY says:
    June 20, 2006 at 10:06 am

    One clarification: if the presence of the U.S. military is failing to inhibit the rising sectarian slaughter — or worse, contributing to it — then there is no other conclusion to reach than that we have lost the war already. The project has failed, and no amount of force, however skillfully applied, will change that dynamic.

  14. elrod says:
    June 21, 2006 at 12:06 am

    You’re smarter than that Dugger. Surely you understand the significance of these “few people in Baghdad.”