Former Intel Officer: U.S. ‘Trying to Create an Iraq That American Voters Will Ignore’

A former Dept. of Defense staffer says that the U.S., in building megabases in Iraq, has all but given up on policing the country, and will send its troops out only to quell large riots. “The overarching U.S. strategy is to avoid the kind of big eruptions that get media attention.”

AMERICAblog:

Despite incessant rhetoric about the “Plan for Victory,” and indefensible claims of improvement from his administration, Bush is quietly pursuing a “Plan for Politics” in Iraq by slowly but surely moving troops out of populated areas and into so-called superbases. These few huge bases, virtual mini-cities with tens of thousands of troops, are in isolated areas, meaning the troops have little ability (or responsibility) to affect daily life in Iraq.

This strategy clearly shows that the Administration has given up on true counter-insurgency tactics, which necessitate working with and among the people, and instead defaulted to focusing on preventing full-scale civil war and total governmental collapse. From the superbases, troops can deploy to stop major conflict, perform targeted strikes, and make large shows of force when necessary, but cannot regularly engage the population.

Link