Things I Don't Want to Think About

The Financial Times argues that the final judgment on how upright the Afghan elections were matters enormously to the Obama administration. If the US public decides these election results were phonied up, it will turn, FT argues, even more against the war than it already is (51 percent oppose the Afghanistan war in the US).

I don't think the US public cares so much about these elections. I think support for the Afghanistan war depends on the administration effectively tying it to concerns about Americans' safety and security. And since that argument is so hard to make convincingly, I can't see how public support for the war is going to come back. With dozens of US troops killed in July, moreover, people are hearing more bad news than good.

What I think is true is that a poorly executed Afghanistan policy could turn Obama into a one-term president. It is too early to judge exactly what Obama's policy will be in Afghanistan, but it should become clear within a few months. So far, Obama has not made the case and hasn't explained what the end game is.

  Juan Cole

Perhaps he learned from George to wait until the end to make that statement. We already know his original intent was to move resources from Iraq to Afghanistan, which certainly seems like an intent to escalate the war there. And since when did one of our presidents concern himself with whether he had "support" for a war? (Late 30s maybe? If you don't have support, you create an incident. Pretty simple recipe that's worked well so far.)

Insurgents struck at the heart of the Iraqi government on Wednesday in two huge and deadly bombings that exposed a new vulnerability after Americans ceded control for security here on June 30. Nearby American soldiers stood by helplessly — despite the needs of hundreds of wounded lying among the dead — waiting for a request for assistance from Iraqi officials that apparently never came.

[...]

After weeks of escalating violence in Iraq, the powerful truck bombs on Wednesday killed at least 95 people and wounded nearly 600 at and around the Foreign and Finance Ministries in central Baghdad, assaults on symbols of government that lent an air of siege to the capital. The bombs crippled the downtown area, closed highways and two main bridges over the Tigris River, and clogged hospitals with the wounded.

  NYT

That will make our soldiers even more popular. They are proscribed by the agreement from even helping wounded Iraqis until a formal request from the ‘government’. So they stand and watch – and sometimes take pictures.

Around 11 a.m., the two truck bombs struck the Finance Ministry and the Foreign Ministry within three minutes, officials said, sending heavy smoke into the sky. The first blast, near the Finance Ministry, killed at least 35 people, collapsed a main elevated highway nearby and left rubble littered with shrapnel and blood. The second, more powerful blast near the Foreign Ministry killed at least 60 people, shattered windows inside the Green Zone and shook houses throughout Baghdad.

At roughly the same time, attacks in other parts of the city, including three roadside bombings and some mortar and rocket fire, left 17 people wounded, Iraqi officials said.

[...]

The bombings, the worst since American forces handed over security responsibilities for cities to Iraq at the end of June, shook the Iraqi government’s confidence that it was ready and able to secure the nation.

Well, that’s the point, isn’t it? Mission accomplished. George. Barack.

“The whole thing is just so disgusting,” the United States ambassador, Christopher R. Hill, said as he read reports from his staff about the extent of the damage while on an official visit to the northern city of Kirkuk. “They’re just psychopathic.”

Oh, that’s helpful. Actually, it could be helpful if anyone were to actually make plans accordingly.

Though no one claimed responsibility for the attacks, Iraqis doled out blame both to their government and to the United States for coming to Iraq in the first place.

“This country is finished,” said one resident, Jamil Jaber, 45, whose five-room home behind the Foreign Ministry had been flattened, crushing his 4-month-old grandson. “It’s just robbery and killing.” He cursed the United States and former President George W. Bush.

And it’s only going to get worse.

Apparently, senior Iraqi officers were involved. Should we be surprised? Hasn't it been true all along that Iraqis have been joining the military and civilian authorities only to get access to plans and arms? Yes, yes, yes.

It all becomes so insane that in the end at the bottom line, I apologize, but with these reports, I can't care so much about the tragedy of the people who live in these Hells; my focus hones in like a laser on my own son. Be safe, son, wherever you are right now over there. As you say, training people who will be fighting your children one day. I love you so much.