Washington File

nice to finallly see some comments finally shining some light on some pretty shady and dark times for north america these past years.
to think we allowed an idiot like george bush to lead us like sheep into a needless, unjustified war with manufactured "consent" and lies and left his administration in power for 6 horrific years of blunder upon blunder, to think we then elected adolf harper and the redneck alliance in canada, just because we were angry at the liberals for the sponsorship scandal and got fed "measured responses", "clean air" and the rona ambrose side-show of incompetence on the world stage. i was wondering how many more basic human rights (abortion, gay marriage, wire-taps, etc...) we were going to nonchalantly allow to fly out the window in the name of 200 year-old misguided backwards religious morality without standing up and saying NO!
to russ, speaking of waking up, bush got his wake-up call, harper is about to get his, for all the right reasons.

Sorry to say but it's too late for that, both Iraq and Afghanistan are already in a state of chaos. The insurgency is growing in strength and audacity with every passing day and in Afghanistan the Taliban have proven that not only are they for real, but they have a groundswell of support that virtually guarantees a war of attrition for the next 100 hundred years. Are we prepared to stay in Afghanistan to "do the job?" Idiotic fantasies od making a difference or supporting democracy aside I don't think so: just watch as the casualty lists grow and Canadian resolve wanes. The sad fact of the matter is that we're going to have to deal with the Taliban to secure peace in Afghanistan - that they're winning makes it impossible to dictate terms, however, unless we resolve to fight a total war nothing less will even come close, and yes, total war means the same kind of all out effort we achieved during WW2. Right now we're crowing about putting bandaids on a cut while the Taliban are busy hacking off arms and legs. Utterly useless and a waste of time and Canadian lives. Either we're all in or we're all out: a half hearted approach to war is utter madness and I for one will never support that sort of policy. Both Afghanistan and Iraq have been horrific mistakes and should never have been attempted in the lame, haphazard manner they were. What do these politicians think war is anyway? A Hollywood movie? Fight the damn thing and be done with it or give up and go home. In either case, damn your eyes for fools and bunglers.

I think the Afgan invasion obviously stood by itself initially, however, now is unquestionably tied to the Iraq invasion. The initial response had a different trigger, but the current course in Afganistan has a direct tie to the Bush/Iraq policy. They (the two wars) may have begun down different paths, but with the US still leading the charge in Iraq, cannot be separated any longer.

I am re-reading George's post now, and think you are right...I must have been over-caffienated when I responded. Sorry George. I actually agree with you, pulling out would simply lead to chaos.

I was remembering back to the days after victory was declared, and the couple of feelers being sent out by the Bush admin, and how insane they seem right now...#1) Invasion of Iran/Syria if they did not fall in line #2) "We don't need the help of those who did not help us invade".

I don't think that George's thesis was "stay the course" but rather, if the US and its coalition left, things will fall into utter chaos and only after increased fighting once a retreat starts. (On the other hand, the reverse scenario of chaos first and then humiliating retreat, is not unrealistic.) Nobody will sign on to the present mission since the Bush administration would trumpet that as validation of their strategy and their reasons for invading Iraq in the first place. Iraq or what comes after it will require some application of force, like a bandage, to gain order. Like the Pottery Barn rules cited by Colin Powell before the invasion, the US broke Iraq and thus owns it. It will be responsible for paying contractors like the Arab League (the Bank of China has another $1 Trillion to loan) to lead a UN mandate and then provide logistical support. By the way, if it is sad that nearly half of Americans still believe that Saddam was tied to 9/11, it is equally sad that maybe half of Canadians tie the NATO 9/11 response in Afghanistan to Bush's Iraq War. The extreme right and left (and lazy US local news editors, stream them online and you will see what I mean) link Iraq and the War on Terrorism to their own ends, that does not mean that they are correct.

To George in Hamilton...I see some folks out there still haven't given up on the "your either with us or against us" view of the world. I fully support the soldiers who have to go through the sh*t they do day in and day out, in Iraq and Afganistan...I think the war Iraq was is a joke, and Afganistan, now that it is lumped in with the greater, failing, US foreign policy, questionable. Any "just" reasoning for invading Afganistan has taken a back seat to the fact that that the Bush admin has morally screwed up in Islamic world.

I do agree with you that pulling out of Iraq would cause even more grief than remaining. But do not dismiss pacifism so loosely, the ideal plays an important (although, not always real)role in a future view of the world...I am no pacificist, but I would choose peace over war any day.

Oh, and by the way, the military may have made some mistakes, but that is not the point...the mistakes should not have ever been allowed to be made. Most level-headed folks knew the "insurgency" would happen (besides the 50% of Americans who still believe Saddam was involved in 9/11...that # still blows me away...).

To listen to Rumsfeld use a Churchill analogy was disgusting. Churchill had the courage to standup in a world of over-zealous pacifists and declare that Hitler was preparing for war, which he was. Rumsfeld and his buddies lied, mislead and decieved the world into believing that Iraq was a threat, when it was not, that Iraq was responsible for 9/11, when it was not, and that Saddam was somehow linked to Al Queda, which he was not.

The Iraq war was wrong.

Yeah as any left - lib will tell you. George Bush is evil and Harper is also evil.

George is responsable for hurricanes, traffic jams, planes crashing into buildings, and while we are at it smelly armpits and hell probably public flatulence. Of course Harper is the same. He should be thrown out, quartered and dragged behind a car.

God you guys, get a life.

I hope that all those who advocate a withdrawal of American troops (and presumably all those from the other coalition members) can advise on how they are to be magically 'redeployed'.

If anyone thinks that the withdrawal will be anything but a bloody, fighting, rear guard action, they know little about military actions.

Right now, the majority of the insurrection is directed at fellow Iraqis. (If you doubt this, check the relative casualty figures.) Once the announcement is made that the coalition forces are withdrawing, the focus will quickly shift onto them.

At a minimum, there are 120,000 American troops, spread all over Iraq. How many C-5s and C-130s do you think it will take to yank them and their equipment out?

As some others have said, there should be a relatively stable, functioning civilian power left to govern Iraq.

There have been many mistakes made. Right now, two seem pretty obvious. The first was the disbanding of the existing Iraqi military. The second was this attempt at nation building.

The Americans have twice demonstrated their outstanding military prowess. The military should have been allowed to do that, and only that. Instead, they have continued to suffer in role unsuited for their training, talents and abilities. The honour, idealism and strength of the wounded and killed is not well served. Note that the Kurdistan provinces have been relatively trouble free.

Finally, wars are not supposed to be popular. But that doesn't always make them wrong. As we approach Remembrance Day, please remember that it was the warriors of Canada's past that allow for today's pacifist warblings.

The stock market (Dow going over 12000) is not the economy. Barely half of people are invested in the market and most of them have small RRSP (IRA, 401k) accounts that can't be (shouldn't be) touched so the Dow has little to do with their daily lives. US figures that the median income has dropped 5% in five years is more telling as well as high levels of public and personal debt. US national debt is topping $8.6 Trillion and when Canada had that same relative level a decade ago, the Wall Street Journal's editorial board was musing about when the IMF would land in Ottawa. When you factor in state and municipal debt, the Economist recently cited an OECD estimate of nearly $20 Trillion for US gross country debt. The changes are structural as costs in the US are just high; in high tech companies, half of the farewell lunches are for people returning to India or China to continue their careers on a transfer home or to a new job. We are facing similiar dilemnas in Canada. For Chris Carlson, check out an upcoming documentary on Barry Goldwater by his grand daughter. I'm sure that a lot of people in the GOP yearn for a return to libertarian and fiscal conservative roots. On today's (11/09) NPR "Talk of the Nation", the Economist's Adrian Woodridge said that the future key to power is whoever becomes the Party of the West: social liberal, fiscal conservative. Just like Barry!

To Chris, you are obviously a thoughtful person, so take this point of view for what it is worth....the thought of Nancy Pelosi and Mr. Reid in positions of power is welcomed blessing to the vast majority of us north of the border, and probably for many US watchers around the world.

There is no clear plan...there can't be. This is now such a mess, how do you get out without making things worse?...the only people who thought there was a clear plan were just whupped 2 nights ago.

Many folks around the world, including experts around the administration knew that the civil strife we see now was a strong possibility...the administration was told this time and time again, yet they seemed to have ignored all warnings.

The mindset was clear when as I was watching a former assistant secretary of ? last on the CBC last night...he was saying the history will look fondly on Rumsfeld because of his role in taking on Islama-facsism...

The statement goes to show just how warped the thought process is in some very intelligent and influencial US insiders...Iraq was not a "Islamic" state, it had nothing to do with 9/11, and for all his faults, Saddam was anything but a religious fanatic....attacking Iraq was the equivalent of declaring war on Sweden after the invasion of Poland in 1939. Just plain dumb.

Iraq.......of course. But would the "average American" have been so vociferous on foreign affairs & war if they'd been better off in terms of the 'greenspan factor' -- making 'the green' span the month?? Mr. Champ, ya'll are failing to report the exit poll results that indicate the voters haven't bought the propaganda lie that the US economy is going "gang-busters" as reported by VEEP Cheney (please see Tuesday's Globe&Mail story on the trumped-up unemployment figures below the 49th http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20061107.RNONFARM07/TPStory/Business ).

I am Happy with the result of the US election. Now a rogue U.S. President will be reigned in by a Democaraticly dominated Congress and hopefully Senate.

The U.S. election shows us that the average citizen, the middle class, are not as well off as the under extreme right wing (neo-con?) governments as they were led to believe during election campaigns. Once the middle class experiences life under an extreme right wing government, with all its hardships, they are ready to vote them out of office and if they cannot vote them out of office (White House Admin) at least reign them in.

I believe that the recent US election is a fortelling of the election expected in Canada in the spring of 2007. The Canadian voter voted a year ago expecting to electct a Progressive Conservative government, Instead what Canadians got was a government which was Conservative in name only. Ideologically the "new government" was no different from the Alliance/reformers of days past. Canadian voters are beginning to see Harper and his government for what they are. They are not the PCs of Joe Clark, but extreme right wingers. Conservative only in name, much like Mike Harris who was the Ontario Premier a few years back. Hopely Candians will see Harper and his bunch for what they really are, and like Ontario did with with Mike Harris, vote them out of office.

How much damage can these extreme right wing politicans (Bush, Harris, Harper) inflict before the voters wise up and vote them out?

For those of us who were against this war before it started, Rumsfeld’s resignation is small solace. It’s not just that this war was prosecuted badly – it’s the fact that it took place at all. The arrogance and ignorance of the whole Bush cabinet, the failure of the corporate media to avoid patriotic fervour and ask tough questions, the failure of members of Congress to reserve to themselves the power to make war according to the Constitution and thereby hold the President to account, the war and military culture that pervades America, the fanaticism of the Christian right and the neoconservative ideologues, the kowtowing of everyone to the PRESIDENT, the collective self-censorship and dismissal of dissent that occurred after 9/11 - all of these elements and more combined to produce the killing fields of Iraq and Afghanistan. I don’t think the disappearance of Rumsfeld will address these other elements that helped create this disaster. The mess we see in Iraq and Afghanistan today is the outward appearance of the mess that exists inside the political culture of the United States of America. There is something wrong with a society that generates the hundreds of thousands of civilian deaths that we have seen over the years in Nagasaki, Hiroshima, Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq – and our own David Frum has the gall to single out Iraq, Iran and North Korea as an axis of evil! Who has done most of the killing? The American people might be on to these idiots in the White House now, but, as with Vietnam, they are always too late - nearly 3,000 soldiers have already died, many more injured, over half a million Iraqi civilians have died according to some sources, and billions of dollars spent. Instead of feeling elated that the Democrats improved their electoral standing and Rumsfeld has resigned, I feel sad and mournful that this American society didn’t have the wherewithal to avoid the Iraq disaster many of us clearly saw beforehand. Freedom fries anybody?

I’m an American and a Republican, and I checked with the CBC to see what the Canadian reaction to our election is. (I’ve always had a deep appreciation of Canada and its people.) You might think, given my party affiliation, that I’d be disappointed in yesterday’s vote, but while the thought of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid in positions of great political power is a little unsettling, my party absolutely deserved the beating it took. Since 2001, the GOP spent taxpayer money like there was no tomorrow, grew the government at an alarming rate, embarrassed themselves with the Mark Foley and Jack Abramoff scandals, and took their eye off the ball by fighting the wrong war at the wrong time (Iraq) instead of fully waging the right war at the right time (Afghanistan and the larger War on Terror). That’s unacceptable. You put your country ahead of your party at all times, and my party forgot that. We deserved to lose. I don’t enjoy the sentiment, but it’s true.

The Dems were smart enough to embrace moderate candidates in this election, and many of them took Congressional seats from Republicans yesterday. My party should do the same, because there is no appetite for liberal or conservative extremism in America today. Most Americans want pragmatic solutions, not screeching ideology.

I am greatly heartened to see that, at the very least, Republicans will not control all of Congress this time around.

I am, however, deeply concerned about the Democrats' strategy for Iraq. American voters appear to have amde it clear that they want their troops home and out of Iraq, but it isn't quite that simple:

No country should be able to go into another country, mess it up as badly as they have done in Iraq, and then leave when they get tired of it. A new strategy is needed, certainly, but leaving the country without any semblance of stability is not an adequate solution.

This position is also applicable to Canada's involvement in Afghanistan: I didn't agree with the war in the first place, but you can't simply go in, have your "fun", and leave when you get tired of it. We have a responsibility to see thsi through at least until some semblance of stability can be acheived.

One down, two to go (at least). Now that Rumsfeld is history, all we need to do is get rid of Cheney and Bush. And of course, the rest of the entourage, but once the terrible three-some are gone, I suspect the rest will just disappear. At least I hope so.

I couldn't be more delighted with the results of the mid-term election. Finally, the American public has awakened and realized what a horrible failure this administration is. With everything from it's foreign policy to it's attempt to revist Roe vs. Wade, it's right-wing conservatism has been nothing but destructive regarding human rights, civil rights and international law, to name but three issues.

The light of day is dawning south of the border. Unfortunately, it is too late for the 3,000+ dead U.S. soldiers. It is too late for all the dead and disfigured citizens of Afghanistan and Iraq. It is too late for our own troops and those of Britain.

The face of the world has changed horribly and beyond recognition because of this Administration. But further carnage may now start to be quelled.

I just hope that when the Democrats finally force a withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan, it is with a solid plan for the future of those countries. The U.S. messed them up and has to hold full responsibilty for putting them back together again.

I'm very pleased to see that the American voter has put the Democrats in control of the House Of Representatives. It appears that the Dems. will also control the Senate once the recounts are in. Bush's comments during the campaign led anyone who listened to conclude that he was the only person, other that Cheney, to feel that the U.S. was "winning" the war. Luckily for the rest of the world, the American voter didn't believe him.

While the Democrats don't have a clear plan they have at least promised to change direction. The troops won't be out immediately but I suspect that the Iraqis are going to have to demonstrate their ability to defend themselves a lot sooner than they would have had the Republicans won the Congress. Since Bush is still President it is unlikely, in my opinion, that the troops will be out before 2008 but that will only energize the Democrats even further and likely propel Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton to the White House with an even larger majority in Congress.

One last note. In my opinion, al-Maliki, has had a free rein in Iraq. Whatever he has requested, he's gotten as Bush caves every time. I believe those days are also over.

Lee MacAllister

As a Canadian living in the U.S., I am relieved U.S. voters have sent a strong message to President Bush and his republicans. This election was very much a referendum on Bush and his handling of the war in Iraq. I think the Bush Administration will now be forced to work with a Democratic House and (hopefully) Senate to finally seek a resolution to the Iraq quagmire. It will be interesting to see how the fallout of the midterm election will be for our Prime Minister and his Bush-like policies on the War on Terror.