Bush approval/Iraq support steadily down

[Guest Cerebus]

A myraid of different polls all showing basically the same thing; job approval is down for Bush. And while not many want to pull out, support for the Iraq war is way down. Also, a whopping 76% say they've seen the Abu Ghraib photos so it seems pretty safe to say that this scandal has hit Bush pretty hard. Here are what, in my opinon, Bush can do to help his image not only with the American people, but with the Iraqi people too.

 

1. Court-martial B. Gen Karpinski, Ltc Phillabaum, Cpt Reese, and Lt Reader. Sure they're, rightly, bringing up charges against the ass clowns who committed these disgusting acts of soldierly, but Bush can not let the idiots in charge without a hook. In particular, charging Karpninski with Dereliction of Duty (and judging by her horrible command of a unit on the front lines it shouldn't be that difficult) will go a long way to showing that Bush isn't willing for the buck to be passed for major travesties as this.

 

2. Disband the 372nd MP Company and/or the 320th MP Battalion. I'm not sure how much of the rot was in the 320th, but without a doubt the 372nd needs to go. There is precedent for this, after a full investigation of a torture scandal in Somalia, the Candian gov't disbanded their Airborne Regiment which was a gutsy move since the unit was very important to the Canadian Army. I'm sure the US Army can survive without the 372nd or the 320th. But this needs to be done with as much noise as possible: invite every media that's willing to come, strip the unit of its citations, bury the unit's guidon, never ressurect the designation, have it all done by LTG Sanchez himself, and scatter the members of the 327 across the Army.

 

3. Make sure the civilian interrogators who were part of the abuse are prosecuted quickly and severly and fire/demand retribution from CACI. There are a ton of reasons why interrogation shouldn't be oursourced, most of which should be obvious by now. With all the private "militaries" around in Iraq Bush needs to show he won't tolerate abuses by them. The legal matters of the military contractors is weird but I'm sure the POTUS can push things to make sure we find out which court these idiots should be tried in. If its an Iraqi one, turn them over. If its one of ours make sure they get hit with anything we can possibly hit them with. Also, Bush should either fire CACI or demand retribution for the damage their employees did to the US gov't.

 

4. Raze Abu Ghraib. There may be arguments that, strategicaly, Abu Ghraib is necessary b/c we need the room for prisoners. While that is true, there can be no greater strategic boost for us than improving our image in Iraq and the Arab world after its been completely shat on. I'm sure the command will be able to find a way to get around the problem. Once Abu Ghraib is torn down turn it plan to build something positive on the spot like a memorial/museum to Saddam's abuses, or maybe a soccer field for kids, or a hospital.

[Highland 0]

Very good points, Cerebus. Kudos.

I hope at the very least this gets rid of the notion of needing civilian POW negotiators/interrogators. There's just some jobs that shouldn't be contracted out, like airport security and this.

And a slightly related question: Will the Bush compaign start distancing themselves from the situation in Iraq since it's becoming a liability?

[Vern Gagne 0]

I don't think the public is upset about the photos, more they know it will hurt the image of U.S. forces in Iraq and the rest of the world.

[Zorin Industries 0]

I don't think the public is upset about the photos, more they know it will hurt the image of U.S. forces in Iraq and the rest of the world.

Is that really the right attitude to be taking here?

[Jobber of the Week 0]

I don't think the public is upset about the photos, more they know it will hurt the image of U.S. forces in Iraq and the rest of the world.

The problem isn't about our precious "image."

 

The problem is that America has hurt people outside of combat, in a mission that was supposed to end that kind of violence by the governing force.

[Vern Gagne 0]

I don't think the public is upset about the photos, more they know it will hurt the image of U.S. forces in Iraq and the rest of the world.

Is that really the right attitude to be taking here?

The comment wasn't really meant to has some kind of attitude. Just pointing, I don't think the public is upset about the photos. More how they can hurt the United States interests.

[Firestarter 0]

Is that really the right attitude to be taking here?

Yes. The problem is neither endemic nor systemic. In the long term, image is all that matters.