Thursday, November 30, 2006

Iranian Weapons Arm Iraqi Militia

http://abcnews.go.com/International/IraqCoverage/story?id=2688501

The fact that we've known about this complicity between Iran (and Syria) and the Shia militias alarms me because it does not seem to be factored in to the greater strategy for stabilizing Iraq. Cars cannot drive without being refueled. Insurgencies cannot be waged without material, external support. Yet, we’ve allowed it to occur knowing exactly where this support has been coming from and without exerting the greater diplomatic and military pressure necessary to stem it.

Even if just for the sake of our servicemen in Iraq: Why?

At least during the Vietnam War, we bombed the Ho Chi Minh trail in an effort to stop the Vietcong from being resupplied by the North. Bui Tin, a former colonel who served on the general staff of the North Vietnamese Army, was interviewed in 1995 by a western journalist. His answer to the question of ‘what could the Americans have done to have won the war’ is enlightening:

A: “Cut the Ho Chi Minh trail inside Laos. If Johnson had granted Westmoreland’s requests to enter Laos and block the Ho Chi Minh trail, Hanoi could not have won the war.”

Is this current administration serious about taking the lessons of history and doing what needs to be done to finish what it started?

11 comments:

Mark said...

I have no real comment to add but to say that to me, it appears as if the Bush administration has run out of gas on this one. But what do I know?

Mark said...

All your blab belong to Belmont Club...

http://fallbackbelmont.blogspot.com/2006/11/road-starts-here.html

DirkStar said...

Ring-a-ling!

Lips Mahoney said...

Dirk, great that you could come by again and contribute. Here's that Saturday morning programing you were asking about:

http://www.memritv.org/search.asp?ACT=S9&P1=1322#

Lips Mahoney said...

Dhun, do you think Letterman's staff rigged that to blow, or was that just random luck?

Mark said...

Good question Lips. I wondered that myself.

Don't see too many Letterman fans buying that steamer.

Mark said...

Q. "Do you need a break between executions? "

A. "Allah be praised, there is nothing to it. 3,4,5,6, there is nothing to it"

Lips Mahoney said...

Hey, Mr. Morality police: we've got the same thing going on today in Texas with executions. Does the fact that one uses a sword and the other an electric chair to kill make that big of a difference to your conscience?

Or are you ok with being a better-than-thou hypocrite?

Anonymous said...

I would at this time like to suggest to the reading audience that "Dirk Star" and "Lips Mahoney" may actually be the same person, whoever that is.

Mark said...

Anon - You misread the sarcasm of Lips Mahoney and missed the blog that belongs to Dirk.

So, to respond to the sarcastic comment that Lips made...

It's more important to look at the means or process by which the law sentences those individuals... who are then sent to their deaths by those very different execution methods.

From where does justice originate in the two examples?

Saudi jurisprudence and American jurisprudence are light years apart in both style and substance.

So before one is to even remark on the means of dispatching an individual into that "dark night", one must ask first, questions which establish the disparate features of law in the U.S. and law in the Kingdom.

Does anyone have the desire to start with some of those questions?

Dirk?

Lips Mahoney said...

Ahh... at least someone appreciates my humor.