Today’s Reads (May 10)

• Singapore’s narrow-minded employers

  from Heavenly Sword

• Myths about education: Edutainment and other fads

  from Singapore Angle

• I am Singaporean XXVII – The Question of Survival

  from Die neue Welle

• Should Kids Be Classified Under Religious Sects?

  from Useless rantings of a few disgruntled S’poreans.

• Beware the Slippery Slope!

  from theonlinecitizen

• Retirement and Housing

  from Perspective Unlimited

• What kind of leadership do you really wish to work for?

  from Stressed Teacher

• Right to be Gay

  from Singapore Kopi Tok

• Lost In A Fog Of Fear

  from Yawning Bread

Advertisement

When A Good Idea Goes “Wrong”: The Iraqi Campaign and Southeast Asia

“America has to take a firm position and if it leaves with its tail between its legs, it is going to be very damaging for America, very damaging for all of its friends… particularly in Southeast Asia, that we will all be greatly alarmed because our security will be greatly affected.”

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong recently on May 6, 2007 (AFP)

Nearly a week has passed since President Bush vetoed a bipartisan proposal in the senate that fully funded additional troops into the Iraqi theatre so that the US can responsibly end the war. At face value, the decision to undertake a “strategic retreat” signals a reversal of the White House’s position towards the proposals of the Baker-Hamilton report. It might seem even to be a tacit acknowledgment, that the shit has hit the fan and its time to slowly back track and go back into the car and drive somewhere any where except out of Iraq.

This article will paint in broad and long strokes what actually went wrong with the Iraqi campaign inspired by “the war on terror.” It will also explore what long and disturbing shadows the Iraqi campaign will cast against countries in South East Asia.

(1) Warning: Not using your brain is hazardous to your country’s health

One of the reasons accounting for the ineptitude of US foreign policy is the failure to reason. This followed directly from the intellectual failure to address itself to the practical necessities of sustaining such a complex military, social, political and economic campaign in Iraq before, during and after war.