Arrivederci, Baghdad

Or, it's the Army's problem now:

Sarcastic irony in the Air Force. Who could have guessed?

Hey, when you're sitting in a bar, hangin' wit da ladies, back in a rear area while the grunts are sitting in a hole getting shot at, whaddaya 'spect, bro?

But in all seriousness, Brother Lurch has a good post up about the Corps leaving Iraq to operate in Afghanistan, leaving the Army to continue the occupation.

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Only cynical people would claim that the Marines wanted to get out from under a situation (Iraq) that has been a complete failure, and especially to get out of Anbar before it blows up. I’m sure the Commandant and his staff felt they could contribute something significant to the fight in Afghanistan.

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Which they can. Afghanistan has the potential to turn into the dismal failure Iraq has, as troops have been directed away from the real problem spot to fight the Chimp's vanity war in Iraq.

Being just back from Europe, public opinion (anecdotal) is clearly against getting involved (or further involved) in anything American when it comes to foreign adventures, at least until we have a new President. We won't see any more European troops over there for a year at least. If anyone can make a difference in Afghanistan, it's the Marines, though Lurch finds the political corollary to moving the Marine force from Iraq to Afghanistan:

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This will make the proposed complete failure in Iraq the fault of the Army, and not the republicans and Mr Bu$h.

Of course, because the Republicans are "The Party of National Security". If the Army would fight the war the way the leadership wanted ...

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By the end of 2005, Rice's opposition to any opening to the Sunni leadership in Iraq became almost obsessive, according to currently serving senior military officers. In one incident, now notorious in military circles, Rice "just went completely crazy" when she learned that a marine colonel had dispatched combat helicopters to help a "a Sunni sheikh" in Fallujah fight what the sheikh called an "imminent al-Qaeda threat".

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What, sarcastic irony from the Air Force?