These Guys Should Really Acknowledge the Progress

Since the Clinton campaign seems to be succeeding in its strategy to refocus the debate onto domestic issues, the whole question of what the candidates are planning to do about Iraq seems to have faded increasingly into the background. Still, it continues to be my view that this talk of continuing an open-ended training mission in Iraq is a bad idea.

This isn't doesn't really get to the core of the problem with the training concept, but it's amusing to know that when we take Iraqis out of the country for training they tend to not want to go back. Along those lines, it seems that the main reason refugees are going back to Iraq from Syria is that Syria's kicking them out.

Comments

Matt, I really don't think amusing is the adjective you're looking for there. At least I hope not.

Posted by Ginger Yellow | December 6, 2007 5:44 PM

From the article: Numerous Iraqi military and law-enforcement officials brought to the U.S. as part of special intelligence and training programs have run away and are seeking asylum in this country or disappeared altogether, The Washington Times has learned.
Intelligence officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity, say nearly a dozen Iraqis fled military training facilities in the U.S., including a brigadier general who went to Canada with his family earlier this year.

It's wartime! Those Iraqi military and state police - under a dozen - are deserters trying to ditch in the USA so a dozen Americans can fight and maybe die in their stead. In other wars we did not accept America being "Sanctuary" for deserters of our allies.

Grab them. Duct tape them and their families up, throw them on a plane, and deposit them back with their Iraqi tribal sheikh or commanding officer.

Posted by Chris Ford | December 6, 2007 6:33 PM

Sorry, Chris, we don't have the manpower (they're all in Iraq). Besides, we need all our guys to find OUR deserters and AWOLS...

Posted by Richard Steven Hack | December 6, 2007 9:54 PM

Keep in mind that it's just undeniably true that "When you take "X" out of the country for (Just about anything except waterboarding), they tend not to want to go back." for a very wide range of "X" indeed. That's just a fact: Life in an awful lot of countries is crappy compared to life in developed democracies.

I'm not saying this doesn't say anything, just that it doesn't say much. Our efforts in Iraq could be implausibly successful, and it would still be true.

Posted by Brett Bellmore | December 7, 2007 8:10 AM

Bring 'em on!! We need all the Iraqi refugees we can get! I think we should have nearly an open-door policy where they're concerned, plus we should also be handing out student and cultural exchange visas to qualified Iranians as fast as we can.

This is a long term project. We have significant common interests with these people, and treating them like some kind of terrorist bacteria is neither fair, nor in our national interest.

Posted by Robert Powell | December 7, 2007 9:54 AM