Message from Snagglepuss, "Exit Stage, Left" or "Change tactics in Iraq"

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Snagglepuss was one of those cartoon characters, who like Bugs Bunny, would wonder cavalierly and mischievously into various types of hilarious misadventures. They were what you might call, smart idiots. The excitement always started in their cartoons when the main character, like Snagglepuss, would have to find his way out of harms way after wandering into some situation that he had walked into looking for either fun or food, and sometimes both. Since Snagglepuss, who was actually a big cat, such as a leopard or lion, was also a thespian and a narcissist, his attempts at escape were always colorful and full of comedic escapades. His famous line when things would get tough was always, “Exit, stage left.” With a little shuffle of his feet, and a tilt, or lean to the left, Snagglepuss was gone faster than you could blink your eyes, and of course was always safe to show up in the next episode.

The United States is a little like Snagglepuss — Aren’t we? How else do we explain that a nation that once led the world, is now the subject of international criticism due to our inability to protect our society from being misguided into a bloody madcap horror in Iraq, where our sons and daughters are being killed daily for no reason that anyone can clearly articulate, and Iraqis are being killed in numbers still uncounted. Imagine, we get news reports that say US troops have embarked upon an operation in one part of Iraq, searching for Al-Qadea, going house to house, and blowing up buildings, rounding up terrorists. That same day, we get reports that 150 or so Iraqi civilians, and some US troops have been bombed to death in a completely different area, miles from where the majority of the troops are. Ironically there are no bombings where the troops are fighting, just roadside bombs. Meanwhile, in Baghdad, two, three, or four suicide bombers just walk down the street, or pull up in cars at mosques and police stations, and detonate. When it happens once you think, “Oh well, they figured out that the troops are distracted, and so they are free to launch attacks some where else.” Yet, when it seems to become a pattern that the troops are off launching some big offensive that chases the terrorists into hiding, while people are being blown to bits in Baghdad, you start to wonder if someone isn’t tipping off Al-Qadea about troop movements, or if someone who is playing both ends against the middle in Iraq, isn’t purposely misleading our military. On one side we have US troops, on the other, the so-called insurgents, and in the middle stands the Iraqi people who seem to be the primary targets of this terrorist insurgency.

Everything that Congressman Murtha said about the Iraq debacle made sense except his claim that the US military is now the focus of the insurgents, and the cause for their anger and rejection of the political process. It seems pretty clear, if based solely on the numbers, that the target of the insurgency is the Iraqi people, and the US military is merely providing a distraction for the insurgents, at the tune of billions US taxpayer dollars per week. The media cameras follow the US troops, while the insurgents hit strategic civilian targets in other places at will. The mosques, police stations, children on street corners collecting candy handed out by a soldier, all seem to be aimed at creating emotion, hatred, and sectarian strife, and also at causing the US military to look incompetent. Murtha may be right when he says that the insurgency will cool off once US troops leave, but not because we are the target, but because insurgents will no longer have US troops to hide behind, and to serve as decoys and distractions. Whoever it is that is acting, as an insurgency in Iraq, needs the US military presence, since without it, they would have no cause, and no cover for their crimes in Iraq. They would have to face the Iraqi people head-on, announcing through such an action that they are indeed fomenting civil war, and seeking to prevent an Iraqi government from being established that is friendly with Iran and dominated by the Shia, and to either control or destroy the Iraq oil industry. Iran claims to have proof that it is Britain that is working to keep Iraq destabilized and that is responsible for the attacks being blamed on an insurgency. Others say that it’s the Kurds and Saddam loyalists, both Sunni, working with, and funded by Israel, fighting to prevent the establishment of an Islamic Republic in Iraq. Other rumors include the claim that it is Chalabi working with Israel to gain power, and to create an Iraqi government that is cooperative with Israel, including an agreement to open a pipeline that will siphon off Iraqi oil to Israel through Syria.

On some level it doesn’t seem to matter much who the insurgents are anymore. They can be anyone who feels that they have a stake in the future of Iraq that is worth fighting for, and who see the Shia as the primary barrier to what it is they hope to achieve. Congressman Murtha said that if US troops leave, the Shia, and other Iraqis would be incentivized to fight the insurgents on their own. What is perhaps more clear, is that with US troops gone, we will all see more clearly who the insurgents are, and what their goals are, and that will disabuse the Iraqi people of the idea that anyone will fight for them, and that they must organize and fight for their own survival. Those who argue that there will be chaos in Iraq once US troops pullout are wrong. What is m ore likely, is that once US troops pull out, the insurgency will pull out with it, and the Iraqi people will be left to decide to either reconcile, and build a common future, or to splinter and peacefully disengage from one another, or to have civil war. No doubt, insurgents will attempt to claim a victory, yet we can blunt that lie by merely refusing them any media coverage, and providing enough information to show that the pullout actually broke the insurgency who had no cause except to kill. Just as the people of Jordan turned against Zarqawi, the people of Iraq will turn against him also.

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch appeared on Fox News to give his warning that should US troops pull out of Iraq, terrorists will attack the US. That is a logic that is difficult to understand, yet is typical of the fear tactics, veiled threats and warnings that are always the substance of Zionist thinking on the US and the Iraq war. It is sufficient to say that in such a case, terrorists in the US would quickly learn that they are not in Iraq.

The US is having a Snagglepuss moment in Iraq. Is it time to exit, stage left, or to stay the course, and change tactics? Whether or not Congressman Murtha is right about whom the target of insurgents might be, it is clear that he is right about one thing, once the US leaves, there will probably be no insurgency. Without the US military presence in Iraq, the insurgency has no cause, no cover, no decoy and no one to use as a whipping boy and distracter. The sooner the US leaves the better, since it will not give the so-called insurgents more time to work on splintering the Iraqi people, hoping to cause a civil war, while also working to tilt the expected outcome of the December vote. Of course there is also the choice to open our eyes and to stop being Snagglepuss, acting cartoonish, naïve, and slavish to Israel. Since the Republicans have made it all but impossible to even consider an immediate withdrawal, we have time to plan a gradual withdrawal following the upcoming elections. In the meantime, we need to get 100% on the side of the Iraqi people, fully committed to their success, and not ideologically bound to any outcome except success of the US/Iraqi, and not the US/Israeli mission. The US/Israeli mission was WMD, which failed. The US/Iraqi mission is the removal of Hussein from power, and helping to establish a popularly elected, independent and sovereign Iraqi government that will serve and represent all of the Iraqi people equally and equitably