Sounding Brass
Thursday, September 13th, 2007“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.” I Cor 13:1
When I heard the President speak tonight, this bible quote came to mind. I have no doubt that he is sincere, but sincerity without love (charity) is hollow and self serving.
The President has confirmed in his speech tonight what we already knew. We are going to have pretty much the same number of troops in Iraq through the end of his Presidency as we had prior to the surge - whether we like it or not. What we also can surmise from the Democrats is that this is just fine with them. They would like to have this issue to run on in November, 2008.
As many have already said, the troop withdrawals are just a bit of kabuki theatre. We have to bring those troops home because we have already extended their deployments in order to create the troop surge. So whether things were getting better or not, they would be coming home.
It is certainly good news for those that are coming home and all of our prayers go with them for their safe return.
It is also good news for those areas of Iraq who are experiencing a short respite from the fighting.
As far as the strategy is concerned, there is really not a whole lot there.
What is happening on the ground is that Iraq is partitioning itself and preparing for the coming civil war. There are very few multi-ethnic areas of the country left. We and the British are helping in that process by turning over control to the local militias, paying the local leaders for their cooperation, and in some cases actually arming them. We are also bringing back those who were in positions of power during Saddam’s government because they know how to run the country. Unfortunately they also are hated by the Shia. If you are interested in more insight on this prediction, listen to the interview of Tom Ricks on Fresh Air. He has been one of the few who has been consistently right in predicting what is going to happen next.
The reason why the Iraq government hasn’t made much progress is because there is no progress to be made. They are positioning themselves for the day when the real fighting begins and everything else is just lip service to attempt to get the most money out us before we leave.
That fighting will begin sometime in 2009 as the new Democratic president begins to draw down our troops to a level where we can no longer effectively keep the factions apart. When the real fighting starts, we will be forced to remove the rest of our troops to keep them out of harms way. We will likely try to keep troops in the region in order to prevent the conflict from spreading, but our influence at that time will depend on what is going on in Iran, Syria, and Israel. Since Israel just bombed Syria, it’s not looking real good for the home team right now.
Though this may seem frightening enough, what is really frightening is the suggestion that President Bush may also launch a strike against Iran before he leaves office. I know it sounds crazy, but there was a report to day of an Iranian supplied missile landing in the Green Zone in Baghdad. That’s the same sort of PR that led up the original invasion of Iraq. What would happen after that hit the fan is anyone’s guess.
Prayer is always an effective tool when faced with circumstances as bleak and hopeless as these seem. It is comforting to know that God is the only wisdom and power and that all creation including world leaders reflect that wisdom as part of their spiritual nature. That’s at least what I’m working on these days.
