partition. a million people died, people trying to run to the polls and get away from each other. when that kind of stuff happens, you know the iraqi army is not capable of doing anything. however, baghdad won t fall because i don t think that they don t have fighting built up areas. what you might end up with a de facto partition iraq and that s, in many respects, just as bad as anything else. dead for peace in the middle east but somehow, right, but not in iraq. you have the kurds, too. the real problem is the following question. does it have the capability to counterattack and take back those areas taken and at the moment, the answer is no. and because of a lack of resources, because of a lack of skill and training. i mean, isn t that what we were meant to have been doing? there are two things. skill and training is always at the forefront of any military operation, but at the end of the
hard not to look at this and say it s not a national security concern to the united states at this point but again, you know, you go back to sort of the political problem here and we have this whole chicken and egg with both sides claiming i told you so, with the people saying we never should have gone in, all you did was delay the inevitable and maybe help expedite the chaos and supporters and proponents are saying you can t have the gains and hope for some sort of political solution where everybody comes together if you don t stay as a stabilizing force for a longer period of time that is comfortable politically. the irony to this, tamron, joe biden was mocked back in the day when he said partition iraq, you couldn t have shia and sunni governing together, wasn t going to happen and maliki has proven that. maybe joe biden will look like the guy who saw this coming and
bothered to go over to iraq if only to say goodbye to the combat forces it is a great die for the administration. it is not one clearly. when people and politician and intellectuals and police are gunned down and blown up. the president has to give the speech with blood run negligent streets it is hard to remain victory. are media so anxious to put iraq in the rear view mirror. they will just say it is done and out of it. some of that and that reflects the peeling of the american people. some of it has been done, most people say no, it was not worth this effort. we are not sure what we got out of it.
for the military and personnel. vice-president biden celebrating the military s success with the withdrawal of the final american combat brigade. he was careful not to mention his opposition to the move to president bush. this happening as president obama plans a prime time speech in iraq. the man who opposed the world and troop surge. he has a chance to call it to a victorious conclusion. the surge concept is in fact no different than what we repeatedly tried but with 20,000 troops we will not in any imaginable way accomplish new progress. the fact of the matter is, we have tried this road before. in the end, no amount of
american forces can solve the political differences that lie in the heart of someone else s civil war. that was senator obama obviously a couple of years back. jim, we don t know what president obama will say this week. if he takes a victory lap on iraq should the media remind us of the opposition to the surge. they should . they should remind the country six months after an election. there is no leader in the country right now . al qaeda or somebody can pick off 40 or 60 people a day . in explosions. old obama who opposed the war and surge . new obama allegedly for it . reality on the ground in iraq and all three are different. judy, you have been one of those journalist who wrot that iraq is not a war won. it is nice that s few of us