U.S. to not leave Iraq - We will look weak if we do.

Dan Froomkin reports Cheney's statement.

"Vice President Cheney yesterday offered an unusually revealing glimpse of his worldview -- one in which a withdrawal from Iraq may have less to do with Iraq, and more to do with the message it would send to the world about the limits of American power.

In Cheney's view, withdrawal from Iraq would first and foremost make the United States look weak. And that, in turn, would have cataclysmic domino-style effects across the globe: Afghanistan could fall, and so could Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. The Iranians could get nukes. And the United States itself would become dramatically more vulnerable to attack, not to mention lose its ability to shape a new century favorable to American principles and interests."

Last time I heard the Domino Theory it was the explanation given by Conservatives in 1963 of why we couldn't leave Viet Nam. If we pulled out, not only would Ho Chi Min take all of Viet Nam, but Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Myanmar (Burma), Malayasia, Singapore and Indonesia would all fall to the Communists and join with China as our enemies. You will notice that was two years before LBJ sent in half a million American troops.

When we did pull out after 58,000 American deaths ten years later, Laos and Cambodia had already gone Communist as a side effect of the war we had fought. The rest never did. Then Viet Nam invaded Cambodia and China went to war with Viet Nam.

Cheney is just afraid to look weak. Because of his fear and his ego, we invaded Iraq. Now his fear drives both him and and his puppet Bush to refuse to make any plan that might end the war in Iraq.

Many critical decisions about the war are being made in secret, then denies when rumors of them surface. The NSA wiretaps are an example, as is the entire camp at Guantanamo. The reasons are that they are being made arbitrarily without the cooperation and advice of Congress and to the extent possible without court review. This is key in renditions and the camp at Gitmo. It is key to the assertion that the President is supreme when acting as Commander in Chief. In short, they fear coordination and review because they are afraid that if they get those things, they will not be allowed to act in the arbitrary manner they feel necessary to relieve their fear. They don't trust others.

They don't understand and they don't trust other people. They are really paraniod. So they are abandoning the rule of law on which the US Nation and its Constitution are based. Go see Rule of Law vs. Arbitrary Command.

The alternative to arbitrary command by a single individual is the process of making collective decisions. They are not as fast as arvbitrary decisions, but social science research has shown that collective decisions in complex matters (like war) are invariably more accurate. That's not "usually" more accurate. That's "invariably" more accurate.

If you question this, then James Surowiecki has an excellen book you need to read.


The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations

This is why complex industrialized nations invariably become more democratic. A freely operating Congress or Parliament is absolutely necessary to process the complexities of an industrial economy and establish the most important issues that the executive will have to react to. As messy as the process is, there is no other process that works as well.

It's a damned shame that the Republicans don't understand this. They are looking for a father figure to provide guidance and protection. But it doesn't work as well as a democracy.