Denmark and the Iraq Issue

It didn't take me long to find something to post about. It is almost noon here (which means it's 6am in Washington) and I haven't even taken a nap yet. So, as I wait for the room to be ready at the hostel that I am staying at tonight, I picked up The Copenhagen Post. It is the Danish news in English.

Guess what dominates the front page? You guessed it. That mess we got started in Iraq. Well, not we so much as that bunch of war mongering morons known as BushCo.

Anyway, did you know that Denmark has announced it is pulling its troops out of Iraq? I didn't until just a bit ago. Perhaps I am just delirious from exhaustion and forgot about it. But, it's more likely that Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen's announcement was overshadowed by Tony Blair's announcement at approximately the same time.

Granted, Denmark only has 500 soldiers in Iraq. But, let's not cede that point to the people who continue to insist that our presence there is justified. Denmark has a conservative government. They were an early supporter of Bush. Now, at the same time, Bush loses the support of not one, but TWO important European allies in the Iraq war.

As if that's not enough, there is a second article on the front page dealing with Iraq. Last week, the Iraqi foreign minister, Hoshiyar Zebari, was in town to meet with Danish government officials and to celebrate the opening of the Iraqi Embassy in Copenhagen.

Of note:

"After meeting Monday with his Danish couterpart, Per Stig Møller, Zebari outlined some of the challenges facing Iraq, such as stabilising Baghdad. He tempered expectations of a recent move by US and Iraqi troops to crack down on militias, saying results would probably not be seen for a few months." (I can't get it to block quote! sorry.)

If this joker is saying we'll MAYBE see results in a few months, then that puts us well past the assumed deadline of summertime for this surge to show results or to start packing it up and bring our men and women home. But, he further says:

"We expect success, not defeat...If we fail in Baghdad, then the whole country will fail...."

So, is he saying if we can't stabilize Baghdad in a few months, then the whole country is lost? That is sure what it sounds like to me. Which further begs the question: What the hell are we doing sending tens of thousands more troops and support staff into a losing situation? If the conservative government in Denmark gets it, why can't Bush?