Another Take On The War

 

1. Iraq was part of a coherent policy of dramatically reducing taxes on the very wealthy, and using war to bring in cheap oil and create jobs that would cover lack of stimulus from the tax package. We can see how the war was the economic stimulus by the speed at which the US economy began its rebound after the invasion.

2. The communications and materials revolution allows for both greater centralization of power, and greater counter-centralization. It does not dramatically improve standards of living over the previous wave of industrialization.

3. Thus the introduction of a light invasion force, without the ability to dramatically improve living standards, unleashed the counter-centralizing tendencies, allowing for the creation of multiple insurgencies and their growth into a civil war.

4. Democracy, even in the Texified form that was proposed, was never an option. The magic free market fundamentalism - essentially "take government away and everything goes incredibly well" - never stood a chance. It is superstitous nonsense to begin with, and implemented by low quality intellects to compound the problem.

- - -

Now for the ugly conclusion. Consider that right now there is almost jubliation in the press over the return of people from the Bush the eldar administration - a failed one term adminstration which bollixed Iraq and the break up of the USSR, failed to deal with the transition away from high octane Reagan deficits, and allowed the largest banking collapse since the Great Depression in the collapse of the S&L scandal. And the Bush the young make these people look good.

There is no money for a "heavy footprint" occupation. The best that can be done is scrounging up between 20K and 40K additional troops and throwing them at Baghdad to suppress the rebellion there temporarily, and allow the military pork to flow for a couple of more years before withdrawal and tax increases are put back into place. Basically, those who have looted the US Treasury want to make a clean get away with the money.

Source: Rebooting the Dictator Software | TPMCafe

 

Technorati Tags: Politics - Interesting