The Gamble documents that the military downgraded the definition of success in Iraq from the Bush Administration's pie in the sky hopes of Jeffersonian Democracy to one of 'sustainable stability'. Ricks writes:
This was key: The grandiose goals of the past three years, of turning Iraq into a beacon of democracy that would transform the Middle East, or even into turning Iraq into a dependable ally of the United States, were quietly put on hold. Bush Administration rhetoric didn't always reflect this shift. But on the ground in Iraq, the new goal was simply to getting to a more or less peaceful Iraq that didn't explode into regional war or implode into a civil war.
I think one of the reasons that the surge was not taken seriously politically was that it seemed like another attempt by the Bush Administration to achieve the goal of a democratic Iraq, one which had been written off by the voting public as a facetious argument. Even in 2006 it was wrapped up in the political trappings of those against it are traitors to America.
The book notes that Patreaus tried to talk Bush into down-grading his administration's rhetoric, but there was little gain in that area, especially with Bush, Cheney and other neo-cons continuing to espouse idealistic goals that had no bearing on the reality, or the political fatigue, suspicion and cynicism in which they were held by the voting public.
While Iraq was a failure of political and military strategy, it is also a large failure of politics. The military tends to see things through a nationalistic eye - being a highly nationalistic body and institution. Anything done without the full national backing and as a national project can have heavy ramifications on military morale; let alone a series of failed strategies both military and political.
The Bush Administration used the Iraq war to divide and polarise a country for short-term political gain. They did not even have the decency to be competent in that goal. They are now in a powerless minority due to their incompetence in government and politics. The Iraq War carries all the worst follies, failures and mess-ups of the Bush Administration; from the 'game-changer' ideology of Bush, to the 'show of force' mentality of Cheney, the myopic idealism of the neo-conservatives and the 'your numbers and our numbers' reality making of Rovian politics.
I suspect that if the voting public had not of turned off to the Bush Administration and the Iraq War, and Patreaus been allowed to speak more on his and Odierno's strategy, they may have been given a better chance. The surge to the voting layman, as another political wedge, appeared like throwing more good troops at a bad situation with no hope of achieving anything positive.
Phoenix Eats Out is the restaurant review site for
Phoenix,
Scottsdale and
Old Town Scottsdale which lists the modernist and contemporary restaurants, taverns and bars in the greater Phoenix area.
This is the list of the most popular restaurants pages from phoenixeatsout.com that have been viewed the most;
My personal favourite restaurants in Phoenix are
AZ88,
Postinos,
Bomberos with
Grazie,
Humble Pie,
Orange Table,
The Vig,
Fez and others coming close behind. View the complete list with the photo-journalistic style images on
phoenixeatsout.com
Arizona is an outdoor state and has lots of hiking in the city and around the state. Phoenix is unusual for most cities in having several large mountains in the center of the city with great hiking. Anyone who comes to Phoenix has to do the
Echo Canyon trail on Camelback and the
Summit Hike on Squaw Peak or Piesta Peak. The views of the city, suburbs and surrounding mountains are wonderful from Camelback and Piesta Peak.
For more experienced hikers there is the McDowell Mountains in North Scottsdale that has several difficult and strenuous hikes in
Tom's Thumb and
Bell Pass. Alternatively, you can hike the highest mountain in Arizona. At 12,600 feet
Humphrey's Peak is a long and difficult hike.
Between 2004 and 2009 this site,
southsearepublic.org, was a constitutional blog based on scoop which focused on Australian and global constitutional issues.
One of the strongest aspects of it was the development of constitutions by those involved in the blog. These constitutions are the outcome:
The constitutions were built using principles from Montesquieu's separation of powers, the enlightnment's universal political rights and the ancient Athenian technology of sortition and choice by lot.
South Sea Republic started in 2004 as an Australian constitutional blog in 2004 based on scoop software. It was an immigrative outgrowth of Kuro5hin. The archives for each year since then;
The articles are ordered by views.
I am an Australian living in the United States as a permanent resident.
I am a software developer by trade and mostly work in Java and jump between middleware and front end.
I originally worked in the New York area of the United States in telecommunications before moving to Washington DC and
working in a mix of telecommunications, energy and ITS. I started my own software company before heading out to
Arizona and working with Shutterfly. Since then I have joined a startup in the Phoenix area and am thoroughly enjoying myself.
I do a lot of photography which I post on this website, but also on flickr. I have a photo-journalistic website which lists
the modernist and contemporary restaurants in phoenix. I have a site on the
Australian Flying Corps [AFC] which has been around since the 1990s and which I unfortunately
lost the .org URL to during a life event; however, it is under the
www.australianflyingcorps.com URL now.
The AFC website has gone through several iterations since the 90s and the two most recent are
Australian Flying Corps Archives(2004-2002) and
Australian Flying Corps Archives(2002-1999) which are good places to start.
