US and the World

Split widens in Bush admin

The New York Times > Opinion > Op-Ed Columnist: Powell, Then and Now

Powell is being honest about how bad things are in Iraq - somehting Bush and Cheney can't bring themselves to do - and thus is separating himself again from the rest of the Bushies. I doubt he'll ever make up for the UN spech before the war, but this is refreshing none-the-less. Powell aside, however, nothing has changed, as NYT columnist Bob Herbert says:

No earthly amount of spin can make a credible case that Iraq is on the road to freedom and democracy.

Meanwhile, in yet another echo of Vietnam, American commanders in Iraq are begging for more troops. It was ever thus. Commanders thrust into these unwinnable wars against foreign insurgencies always believe that just a few thousand more troops will turn the tide. Americans were told again and again that there was light at the end of the tunnel in Vietnam. The troops sent into that nightmare would dryly remark that the light was coming from an onrushing train.

Rather than destroying an enemy army, which was the goal of the first gulf war, the U.S. military is now spinning its wheels in the Iraqi sand. No one is sure who or where the enemy is, or even what the U.S. mission is. And it is in that horrendous, senseless environment that American troops are getting shot to death or blown up or horribly maimed every single day.