Fighting against our allies in Iraq - the cost of cowboy diplomacy

Most of foreign militants that are fighting the US in Iraq are from countries that are US allies

This is the cost of 'cowboy diplomacy'. This is what happens when an incompetent president fails in his objective to apprehend Osama bin Laden and then charges into Iraq without regional cooperation.

The results:

• Afghanistan was never secured properly and is now being retaken by the Taliban. Heroin production in Afghanistan is at an all-time high and is pouring into the US.

• Hate for America has been exacerbated by the Bush invasion and many allies in the region are supplying militants to fight the US in Iraq. Interestingly, almost none of the foreign fighters in Iraq are from Iran.

• Although there is a thankful and relative lull in violence, 4.2 millions Iraqis are displaced and 70-80% have no clean water, reliable electricity or basic sanitation.

• Thousands of Iraq's most vital and educated doctors, scientists, and professors have fled the country and/or have been targeted by insurgents.

• Retired Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the top commander in Iraq shortly after the fall of Baghdad says: “The improvements in security produced by the courage and blood of our troops have not been matched by a willingness on the part of Iraqi leaders to make the hard choices necessary to bring peace to their country. There is no evidence that the Iraqis will choose to do so in the near future or that we have an ability to force that result.”

It is clear that much of the lull in violence is due to the ethnic cleansing and displacement of Iraqis as a result of this war. What makes the wingnuts think that after 4+ years, the lull in violence will last? Let's hope it does and that when the US troops come home, Iraq will rise to the task of rebuilding their government and their nation. I just don't see how Iraq can do it in the midst of a civil war. How can anyone seriously think Iraqis are better off now? The damage has been done and goes much further than Iraq, thanks to the 'cowboy diplomacy' of GW Bush.

The bottom line here is: it too bad the US has isolated itself and our military is being broken by this calamity and all the hundred of billions being spent with no end in sight. We had time, we had Saddam hemmed in by no-fly zones, satellite surveillance, weapons inspectors roaming the country up until Bush pulled them out just days before the invasion. Saddam wasn’t an imminent threat. We had time to do it right, time to get a coalition like Desert Storm in 91. Instead we’ve alienated the Turks, Saudis and all our prior coalition members that helped us foot the bill in ‘91. We had time to do it right but no, instead of doing it right, with did it the arrogant unilateral ‘cowboy way.’ And now, what do we have to show or it but a resurging Taliban, and a broken and unstable country with no good options and no end it sight. The US military deserves better than this type of incompetent leadership and the generals know that.