Vice-Regal Saint: A Warning from History
I am deeply concerned about Iraq. The task you have given me is becoming really impossible. Our forces are reduced now to very slender proportions… I do not see what political strength there is to face a disaster of any kind, and certainly I cannot believe that in any circumstances any large reinforcements would be sent from here…
There is scarcely a single newspaper… which is not consistently hostile to our remaining in this country. … Any alternative Government that might be formed here… would gain popularity by ordering instant evacuation. Moreover, in my own heart I do not see what we are getting out of it. …No progress has been made in developing the oil. Altogether I am getting to the end of my resources.
I think we should now put definitely… the position that unless they beg us to stay and to stay on our own terms in regard to efficient control, we shall actually evacuate before the close of the… year.
I would put this issue in the most brutal way, and if they are not prepared to urge us to stay and to co-operate in every manner, I would actually clear out.
It is quite possible, however, that face to face with this ultimatum [they]… will implore us to remain. If they do, shall we not be obliged to remain?… At present we are paying… millions a year for the privilege of living on an ungrateful volcano out of which we are in no circumstances to get anything worth having.
memorandum from Winston Churchill, Colonial Secretary,
to Rt. Hon. David Lloyd George,
September 1, 1922
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7 comments:
This is a good dig, with many ominous sounding echos to the present situation. However, it is utterly irrelevant in terms of an effective strategy to defend ourselves against the Islamist expansionists. What a massive boost it would be to our mortal enemies' morale if we packed up and hight tailed it outa there.
Which enemies? The US is now bombing the Horn of Africa while threatening an escalation against Iran and Syria. Since this 'war' (funny how it's so serious a crisis that taxes go down and the numbers fighting are miniscule for such a task) we've added to that score.
Funny how the IRA was apparently never such a threat...
There's nothing funny about it. Which enemies? The kind that fly planes into buildings, and who would like nothing more than complete anarchy in Iraq to secure a badly needed base from which to launch their attacks. Don't think for a minute that they wouldn't use suitcase nukes, or whatever, to achieve their political ends.
You can make a convincing argument for not going into Iraq in the first place, but not for cutting and running in a post-Sep-the-11th world. Guaranteed we'd be back in there in a couple of years if the whole thing fell apart.
The IRA was only a threat to Britain, not the West as a whole. Fair point about cutting taxes I suppose, while poring hundreds of billions into Iraq with such a large current account deficit.
Wow, Churchill's words were sure prophetic.
Gents:
Of course it was LG who made the decision to stay.
Iraq had nothing to do with Islamism.
The US has wasted men, money, and materiel in Iraq that could have been put to better use elsewhere in the WoT. The problem now, is that the USA has no cred with any other major power, and in fact, has bought itself more enemies in the process.
It would have been better to admit errors were made (a lie, but maybe believeable) in 2003 and hand the thing over to the UN. Then we could get down to the business of fighting Al Qaeda.
This is a farcical sideshow that has nothing to do with the WoT.
What a mess.
Note to BB: Google will not let me open a 2nd Account, so I cannot get on the team roster. Please advise. I am sure I am doing something wrong.)
You need a separate email to open a second account. You cannot have two accounts with the same email. Suggest open a free hotmail account, and then try again.
Yours
Alas, the poster "Monarchist" has bought the neo-conservative propaganda about the Iraq War. Aeneas the Younger is on the money here.
Better to cut-and-run and preserve what little fighting force the US has, than to stay there and bleed to death for the sake of promoting a World State..sorry, "New World Order".
A re-emerging Sino-Russian alliance, economic and military, is a greater threat to us than Iraq. We ignore this at our peril.
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