the daily snivel

I sadly shook my head and spoke out angrily from the moment the talk began of invading Iraq. I was extremely glad that our Prime Minister at the time, Jean Chretien, was outspoken and principled and contrary enough to refuse to commit Canadian troops to such a travesty of international law even at the risk of souring US-Canada relations (and sour it did). It has turned into a human rights disaster, a breeding ground for new terrorists, and a fractured, burned nation enduring torture and massacre in a way that could not even be said to have occurred in the late, unlamented regime of Saddam Hussein. There's even talk now of forging El Salvador-esque death squads to hunt down "insurgents."

Now, NEWSWEEK has learned, the Pentagon is intensively debating an option that dates back to a still-secret strategy in the Reagan administration’s battle against the leftist guerrilla insurgency in El Salvador in the early 1980s. Then, faced with a losing war against Salvadoran rebels, the U.S. government funded or supported "nationalist" forces that allegedly included so-called death squads directed to hunt down and kill rebel leaders and sympathizers. Eventually the insurgency was quelled, and many U.S. conservatives consider the policy to have been a success—despite the deaths of innocent civilians and the subsequent Iran-Contra arms-for-hostages scandal.

...

Following that model, one Pentagon proposal would send Special Forces teams to advise, support and possibly train Iraqi squads, most likely hand-picked Kurdish Peshmerga fighters and Shiite militiamen, to target Sunni insurgents and their sympathizers, even across the border into Syria, according to military insiders familiar with the discussions. It remains unclear, however, whether this would be a policy of assassination or so-called "snatch" operations, in which the targets are sent to secret facilities for interrogation. The current thinking is that while U.S. Special Forces would lead operations in, say, Syria, activities inside Iraq itself would be carried out by Iraqi paramilitaries, officials tell NEWSWEEK.

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Shahwani also said that the U.S. occupation has failed to crack the problem of broad support for the insurgency. The insurgents, he said, "are mostly in the Sunni areas where the population there, almost 200,000, is sympathetic to them." He said most Iraqi people do not actively support the insurgents or provide them with material or logistical help, but at the same time they won’t turn them in. One military source involved in the Pentagon debate agrees that this is the crux of the problem, and he suggests that new offensive operations are needed that would create a fear of aiding the insurgency. "The Sunni population is paying no price for the support it is giving to the terrorists," he said. "From their point of view, it is cost-free. We have to change that equation."

Meanwhile, there is a distinct element of cheerleading from the right, as though this great experiment in democracy were a rousing success, and peace, rose petals, and topple-proof statues of George W. Bush were just around the corner. Worse, the one person who should be on top of all events, and prepared to respond realistically, firmly has his fingers in his ears and is shouting "la la la, I'm not listening!"

Captain Video's Visor Yields Poor Visibility

Posted by James Wolcott

Last week an inside peep courtesy of the Washington tipsheet The Nelson Report made the blog rounds concerning Bush's see-no hear-no policy regarding the war in Iraq. According to The Nelson Report, Bush literally didn't want to hear any bad news about how thing going there, EVEN FROM SENIOR MILITARY COMMANDERS, only "progress reports" that played up the good things GE brings to life: new schools, etc. The Report went on to say that the sunshine policy wasn't the product of aides trying to filter news from Bush, that Bush himself insisted on accentuating the positive.

Given Bush's refusal to remove his Captain Video space helmet, isn't any wonder that sympathetic bloggers have been aping his example?

For months, hawkish bloggers have been dismissing and downplaying the black smoke pouring out of Iraq. They would direct readers to the Belmont Club or Belgravia or Bloomsbury or whatever these hangouts for the horsey-set are called for crushing refutations of grim tidings. Again and again they blamed the BBC and Reuters--which one bon vivant said should have its name changed to Reactionary News Agency--and, their favorite sneer acronym, the MSM (mainstream media), which was drenching the airwaves and newsstands with prophecies of doom. They trumpeted the Iraqi bloggers who agreed with them and patronized the Iraqi bloggers who mourned and railed against the ensuing chaos in their country. They pounced upon every post from a military blogger who told them the media was painting a distorted picture, and ignored the revelations coming from Soldiers for the Truth.

But now reality can no longer be barred entry. Andrew Sullivan, whom I often abuse, but only because I care, has an item today from Stratfor that the battle to subdue the Iraqi insurgency may be lost, and with it the prospect for democracy in Iraq. And Daily Kos alerts us to a Republican Congressman from North Carolina who says it's time to start thinking about American withdrawal from Iraq. As certain bloggers scratch their heads like Alfafa, wondering if sending in death squads would be the way to go ("I don't know whether this sort of thing is a good idea or not -- I can see arguments both ways"), a brutal desperation is surfacing among those who once anticipated a cakewalk. Not knowing what to do, they're willing to do anything, or at least entertain the notion...torture, death squads, whatever.

It's going to break Norman Podhoretz's peach-pit heart, but it will soon become time to recognize the inevitable and blow the whistle on the World War IV he and the neocons have been so determined to wage. At some point Dick Cheney will place a fatherly paw on Dubya's shoulder and say, "Earth to Captain Video: Time to bug out--I mean, withdraw in an orderly fashion." It's going to be hard breaking the news to the little fella.

I just hope his loyal space rangers are able to take the shock too.