Exit Strategy

Part of the horrible tragedy that we unleashed on Iraq stemmed from the lie that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. While another part of that horrible tragedy stemmed from the fact that when our leaders began the conflict, they had no realistic exit strategy.

As the corporate media keeps pushing the narrative that the escalation of the Ukrainian conflict is the only possible path forward, I pray that everyone is paying close attention to what our leaders are stating the “exit strategy” is this time around.

So what are our leaders saying is our exit strategy in this conflict with Russia?

Anyone? 

I want to build on an analogy started by Lee Camp: imagine you oversaw a boy egging on his younger brother, who is just a toddler, to yank the family cat’s tail hard over and over. At some point, the cat turns around and gives the toddler a good clawing that he won’t forget. 

As an adult, what do you do? In addition to soothing the toddler, you also need to impress upon the toddler how he needs to stop yanking the cat’s tail. But the biggest thing you need to deal with is the older brother who started the whole mess.

Hold on. That’s us.

I realize that every day it becomes harder and harder to simply admit that Russia has legitimate national security concerns. It becomes harder to admit that we assisted a coup in Ukraine in February 2014. It becomes harder to admit that we have been providing military assistance to a civil war in the Donbass region of Ukraine, right on Russia’s border, for the last 8 years. It becomes harder to admit that we refused to take Ukraine’s membership in NATO off the table. It becomes harder to admit that both the US and NATO have a history of attacking sovereign countries.

It becomes harder to remember such basic wisdom from the movie, The Princess Bride:  “Never get involved in a land war in Asia.”

My favorite quotes of last two weeks:

“The U.S. is f’d because they think windmills are oil. Solar is oil. Gas is oil. Gas is propane. Diesel is gas. And all run through the same pipelines that take up no land corridors and are run by magic elves who live in a money tree.”

- by Dr. D., a regular commenter on The Automatic Earth, on 3/25/2022

“We’ve heard of suicide by cop. This is suicide by WWIII.”

- by Gottlieb, a commenter on Moon of Alabama, on Ukraine Open Thread 3/24/2022

Oh! Maybe that’s our exit strategy. Civilizational suicide by WWIII. The final exit.

I guess that will take care of it.

Take care everyone.

P.S. I tried to keep this blog short this time. But if you're looking for more depth, please see Scott Ritter's March 23rd interview by the Grayzone: Grayzone- Ritter

(Remember, Ritter was the one that told the truth that there was no credible evidence for Iraqi WMD. He deserves a listen.)