There is a legitimate explanation for the Maliki statement.

In Bush's speech, he mentioned several times that the Iraqi government (Maliki, etc.) would soon lose the support of the both the Iraqi people and the American public unless things changed -- cracking down on the Shiite death squads, provincial elections, equitable distribution of oil revenues, etc. So, Bush's statement to Maliki was merely an acknowledgment of the political realities. This Surge lite is the last best chance we and they have for things to work out from Bush's and Maliki's perspective. If not, the Maliki government will likely lose all support both domestic and American, and the current Iraqi government will fall. This is a much more plausible and nuanced explanation.
 

The "it has to work statement"

Despite your snide remarks, the statement rings true. Bush knows he has one last play before both he and the Iraqi government lose a critical mass of support in our ongoing efforts. Bush knows and is stating that this is the last move that he can make and still have a hope of "winning" (however defined). If this gamble doesn't pay off, then we likely lose and he knows it. So, yes, it has to succeed because it just has to. If not, not only will this gamble not have worked out, but likely Iraq would have failed.

So forgive Bush if this one statement you pick out by him doesn't contain a long drawn out explanation of this strategy and thinking. But even a half effort on your part would make it perfectly clear as to what he meant.
 

"the Constitution makes it impossible to replace him." I don't understand. He has committed numerous "high crimes and misdemeanors" for which Congress could impeach and convict him. It is their fault, not the Constitution's, that he remains in office. (This is not to take a position on whether the Constitution ought to provide a different mechanism to remove a "criminally incompetent" President who had not committed a high crime or misdemeanor.)
 

In Bush's speech, he mentioned several times that the Iraqi government (Maliki, etc.) would soon lose the support of the both the Iraqi people and the American public unless things changed -- cracking down on the Shiite death squads, provincial elections, equitable distribution of oil revenues, etc. So, Bush's statement to Maliki was merely an acknowledgment of the political realities.

You're assuming (a) that the Iraqi government is responsive to Iraqi public opinion, and (b) that said opinion oppposes current government policy. I don't share either of those assumptions.

IMO, Maliki is responsive to the Shiite majority, specifically certain clerics. He answers to them; it would take more pressure than Bush has shown he's willing or even able to apply (see Execution) to interfere with that relationship.

I also think that the majority of Shiites in Iraq aren't going to exercise any political power opposing current government policy. Some because they agree with it, most because there is no history of democracy in Iraq which would give them any confidence they could do so without serious risk to themselves.
 

Thanks to the Constitution, we have to endure 740 more days of George Bush as Commander-in-Chief.

Thanks to what is becoming an obsession, Professor Levinson's posts are going to end with this comment for the next 740 days.
 

Well, yes, it is an obsession with me that we are trapped in a "no exit" hell with the most disastrous president in American history. And yes, somewhat like Nightline in its initial days, I probably will post a daily message indicating how many more days of "the crisis" we face.

Maliki will be out only if he commits himself to the Bush plan. But today's NY Times also indicates that he in opposes it, not least becasue one reading is that it threatens Shi'ite hegemony. So, even if one concedes the altogether dubious proposition that the Iraqi "government" is responsive to local public opinion, it's not clear that Maliki stands to lose with American failure to crack down on Shi'ite thugs (who constitute some of his most important support).
 

Adolescent is somewhat misleading in relation to the 'it has to' (even though at the face of it, it seems to fit). Desperate is more accurate.

American failure to crack down on Shi'ite thugs

Are we going to crack on Shi'ite thugs or Sunni thugs? (okay, that's facetious).
 

@prof Levinson: noted. Maybe you could ask prof. Balkin if you could have a count down counter a top corner. ;)
 

Thanks to what is becoming an obsession, Professor Levinson's posts are going to end with this comment for the next 740 days.

Well, Cato the Elder ended every speech with the words "Delenda est Carthago". Same basic principle.

Doesn't bode well for Bush if the analogy holds true.
 

Hey, hey, hey, Prof. Levinson!:

I've got the patent on "maladministration™". I've been using it for far longer that Stephen Colbert has his "truthiness" (a "Word Of The Year"). You're infringing my intellectual property here. You have bee warned. Ok, OK!, so maybe it's been around a while. But I'm warning ya, I have priority for the method patent of referring to the Dubya regime as the "maladministration"....

Cheers,
 

humblelawstudent:

There is a legitimate explanation for the Maliki statement.

In Bush's speech, he mentioned several times that the Iraqi government (Maliki, etc.) would soon lose the support of the both the Iraqi people and the American public unless things changed....

Rather ironic for a post where Prof. Levinson bemoans the inability of the U.S. to remove a preznit who's lost all support and confidence, eh?

And what does the "support of ... the American people" have to do with the price of tea in Sri Lanka?

Cheers,
 

humblelawstudent:

The "it has to work statement"

Despite your snide remarks, the statement rings true. Bush knows he has one last play before both he and the Iraqi government lose a critical mass of support in our ongoing efforts....

See here. Clap louder. "It has to work."

Cheers,
 

humblelawstudent:

So forgive Bush if this one statement you pick out by him doesn't contain a long drawn out explanation of this strategy and thinking. But even a half effort on your part would make it perfectly clear as to what he meant.

Pardon me for sayng so, but I think Prof. Levinson's effort did make it "clear as to what [Dubya] meant". Seems to me by your other comments that you caught on as well.

Cheers,
 

Sadly, Billmon is gone. The site is gone. Barflies may gather at Moon of Alabama:

http://www.moonofalabama.org/

Col. Pat Lang, (one of Billmon's must reads), could be on your blogroll as well. His assesment of the current situation is worth reading, considering his expertise in the area under discussion.

http://turcopolier.typepad.com/sic_semper_tyrannis/2007/01/the_fatal_flaw.html
 

Professor Levinson:

You argue that Mr. Bush's plan for stabilizing Iraq until Iraq is develops its government and military to the point where it can govern on its own is "maladministration" which should be an impeachable offense.

Do you or the political party for which you would vote in your hypothetical no confidence election have a plan which would better accomplish this goal than the Bush plan?

If not, I would suggest that you are throwing daily stones in a glass house.
 

Of course not if you equate victory with saving the lives of Americans and just get out. Why should opponents to a surge come up with a plan that lives up to YOUR definition of victory. That would be rediculous.

If Levinson were to come up with a plan for Iraq, the outcome would be part of the plan and couldn't be preset by you and the likes of you
 

Of course @Bart. Though the comment is directed at Bart, I think it is a broader point. We've heard the GOP leaders ask for the "Democrat plan" for victory in Iraq as well. But that plan must live up to Bush' standard that equates leaving with losing and staying with winning.
 

The sad answer to Mr. DePalma's question is that I'm certainly not sure that the Democratic Party necessarily has a "better plan," if by that one means a truly cogent analysis. As Mark Graber suggests in another post, I do believe that reasonable people can disagree on what represents the best policy at this juncture, i.e., significant escalation of the McCain variety (at least 100,000 troops and the willingness to expend many American lives in urban warfare with the Shi'ite militia/death squads) or what in Vietnam days was called "unilateral withdrawal," i.e., beginning today with the withdrawal of 20,000 troops, with the announcement that an additional 20,000 will be withdrawn each month for the next six months. Mhy own preference tends toward the latter, but I don't dismiss out of hand people who say that escalation is a less awful alternative than tolerating the descent of Iraq into ever further savagery.

What I'm quite confident of, based on what I've been reading about the assessment of professional military officers is that the current "plan" makes very little sense under any plausible set of assumptions and rests on what is indeed a desperate hope that it will work even though nothing else has. One wonders whether Gen. Petraeus believes that 20,000 new soldiers (only a portion of whom, presumably, could actually engage in combat, given the need for logistical support troops, etc.) are "enough," or whether he believes that this escalation will only make it easier for the next one to take place, until we indeed have (at least) another 100,000 troops in Iraq.

I think that anyone who argues that there is a "happy" solution to Iraq is a fool. There are only catastrophic and slightly less catastrophic ones at this point, in part thanks to Bush's almost literally incredible incompetence.

What we are not discussing, incidentally, is the extent to which the emphasis on Iraq is leading to the equally catastrophic failure of the US mission in Afghanistan, which is far, far more defensible than the Iraqi venture. By all accounts, the Taliban is gaining important ground while allied forces seem stymied. It may be that the Democrats can win in 2008 on the slogan "who lost Afghanistan," whatever happens in Iraq. To put it mildly, that would be terrible, whatever my views of a Democratic victory might be.

A completely gratuitous aside: I do not understand the venom directed at Bart DePalma. I obviously don't agree with him very often, but I have often been led to sharpen my own ideas by his own postings. The last thing I want to do is to generate a thread with yet more discussion of why people feel so hostile, but I want to register my own unhappiness with the tone of some of the postings. As JS Mill argued in On Liberty, one of the virtues of a free-speech regime is precisely that one is forced to consider the merits of one's own ideas by being forced to hard the views of people one may have little patience with.
End of sermon.
 

anne:

Of course, Professor Levinson may agree with you that our best course would be to surrender the battlefield to the enemy and withdraw. However, such a course could in no way be defined a military victory. Rather, surrender to avoid further casualties in combat is the age old epitome of military defeat.

Perhaps, you or Professor Levinson might argue that it is simply impossible for nearly 160,000 US troops and over 200,000 Iraqi troops to win a military victory against what are maybe 20,000 terrorists. If this is the case, then such an argument begs the question of whether you believe that the US military can ever win a military victory against any foe and who would that foe be?

However, I suspect that your goal is in fact military defeat. You are free to disabuse me of this notion.
 

Bart writes: surrender the battlefield to the enemy and withdraw

Which enemy is that - Shi'a or Sunni?
 

Prof. Levinson:

A completely gratuitous aside: I do not understand the venom directed at Bart DePalma.

You mistake "venom" for ridicule and contempt. As well documented, "Bart" is far from an honest disputant, and refuses to engage in any discussion of substantive rebuttals to his "argument by repeated assertion" (or even admit mistakes, such as where he claimed that Brown II
"held that courts may legislate forced bussing of students to achieve desegregation"; his mistaken comments on what is required as "evidence" for motions is also a case in point).

His "arguments" should be met with ridicule and contempt, until he gets his act straight and treats the statements of others as other than annoying noise. If he can't be bothered with addressing the holes in his own logic or dealing with contrary evidence or facts, he's hardly contributing to an productive back-and-forth discussion.

Cheers,
 

Prof. Levinson:

As JS Mill argued in On Liberty, one of the virtues of a free-speech regime is precisely that one is forced to consider the merits of one's own ideas by being forced to hard the views of people one may have little patience with.
End of sermon.

Perhaps "Bart" should take heed, eh?

Cheers,
 

I value Bart's contributions in that he often cites sources from different ideological arenas than often seen here.

No healthy forum shall live by one viewpoint alone.
 

Professor Levinson:

I appreciate your response to my query.

I think the reinforcement of 20,000 troops is far less important than the fact that we are changing our strategy from reacting to the enemy and returning to base to an offensive strategy of clearing and holding. I am uncertain whether 20,000 additional troops are needed to make this work, but I am not on the ground with the necessary information to make that decision.

In a recent Atlantic article, James Fallows noted that we have achieved all of out prewar goals and called for the US to declare victory and high tail it out of Iraq. That prescription is very tempting. However, Fallows ignores the results of a withdrawal. I would suggest that withdrawal will lead to two outcomes.

To start, the Shia would crush the far outnumbered Sunni in an exceedingly bloody civil war which would strongly resemble the Bosnian ethnic cleansing. This outcome could have been avoided if the Sunni joined the government from the outset and accepted their minority status. At that time, the Shia were thrilled simply to rule themselves. However, the Sunni have murdered upwards of 50,000 Shia civilians in a terror campaign with al Qaeda over the past four years. The Shia have been hitting back over the past year and would have done far worse if we had not been present. If we leave, the Shia will finish the job.

Maybe we are willing to wash our hands of the situation and allow the Iraqis to finish this war as I have outlined above. With considerable sympathy for the Soviets, we allowed the Red Army to rape and pillage Germany at the end of WWII.

However, even if we are that callous, withdrawal still leaves our sworn enemy al Qaeda a sanctuary in Iraq. al Qaeda will claim that they drove the US out of Iraq the way they drove the Soviets out of Afghanistan and claim to have driven the US out of Somalia. al Qaeda will have a large pool of Sunni recruits in Iraq as the Shia wage war. Finally, once we are gone, al Qaeda will have a sanctuary from which to train and launch attacks. Once we withdraw, going back in will be nearly politically impossible.

Sometimes the course is not clear and all the outcomes appear to be bad. However, you might feel about entering the war in the first place, we are in the war now and must choose a course. In such a circumstance, it is not sufficient just to complain about the lousy choices. As a sovereign people, we must make a choice on how to proceed. We owe our troops (one of whom is my brother), nothing less.
 

@Prof Levinson: what particularly annoys me by Bart DePalma is that he never replies to rebuttal. He always goes on giving a one sided argument even though someone else wrote a perfect debuttal. I have the distinct feeling that Bart is having a monologue instead of a conversation. I don't pretend to be perfect, but I do read the comments of others because I am interested in their views and not because I think I am entitled to the only truth.
 

"Bart" DePalma "reframes" the issues:

Of course, Professor Levinson may agree with you that our best course would be to surrender the battlefield to the enemy and withdraw. However, such a course could in no way be defined a military victory. Rather, surrender to avoid further casualties in combat is the age old epitome of military defeat.

The instant "battlefield" is a sovereign country we invaded under false pretenses. By "Bart"'s 'reasoning' here, we would have "surrendered" to Germany and Japan when we withdrew our troops from there post-WWII. While it would be a stretch to say that Iraq and post-WWII Axis countries are identical, "Bart" has long maintaned that we 'succeeded' in Iraq, Dubya has insisted that we won, Iraq has had numerous elections, and the erstwhile raison d'etre for invading Iraq has been allayed. Why isn't it time to go home? Perhaps "Bart" thinks there's a new battle to be fought there. If so, we don't have to take on this new task. I think the reason lies more in what "Bart" considers a "defeat": That people in other countries have the temerity to not do what Dubya tells them to do (not counting his "Bring it on!" taunt).

"We're the cops of the world, boys, we're the cops of the world." -- P. Ochs

Cheers,
 

Most disastrous president in American history? Have you looked at the starting salaries for your graduates? They never had it so good. What are you measuring by, other than the level of snideness you hear in the faculty lounge?
 

"Bart" DePalma does take on an opposing viewpoint, will wonders ever cease?:

In a recent Atlantic article, James Fallows noted that we have achieved all of out prewar goals and called for the US to declare victory and high tail it out of Iraq. That prescription is very tempting. However, Fallows ignores the results of a withdrawal. I would suggest that withdrawal will lead to two outcomes.

As many people pointed out before the ill-fated and unjustiified invasion, should have thought about that beforehand. I don't think that the Dubya maladministration has gotten any wiser in the interim.

In point of fact, yes, there's a couple of possibilities for what might happen if (and when) we leave. None of them particularly good. That hasn't changed; it was pretty much intrinsic in the political and social landscape before the first GBU hit the streets. Nor is it likely to change. "Bart" thinks of military "victory", but while he and others demand a "plan" for "victory" from the nay-sayers, it is he that is devoid for a plan for anything other than some illusory military "victory" where no one is shooting at the U.S. troops any longer (ain't gonna happen), nor does he describe in any realistic terms how he expects us to get there. Furthermore, he neglects to mention how the guns and airstrikes are going to change the political and social realities on the ground to make any difference as to the outcome or the sequelae when we leave. This was the flaw of the PNAC dream to begin with: The Underpants Gnome Plan:

1. Collect Underpants
2. ???
3. Profit!

"Bart" continues to advance military solutions ("When all you've got is a hammer..."). There are no "military solutions" to what hapens when we leave, regardless of when that happens.

Cheers,
 

I do not understand the venom directed at Bart DePalma. I obviously don't agree with him very often, but I have often been led to sharpen my own ideas by his own postings. The last thing I want to do is to generate a thread with yet more discussion of why people feel so hostile, but I want to register my own unhappiness with the tone of some of the postings.

I've debated whether to post on this subject or not. I rarely find meta-discussions productive, but since you raised it...

I don't read Bart's posts. I used to, but soon found him intellectually dishonest, a view apparently shared by a number of other posters. That doesn't mean I would adopt the style of some of the responses to him. Personally, I think it best just to ignore posters when I don't think they add anything to the discussion. Some people think a response important because readers might be deceived; in my view, Enlightened Layperson has a good method of achieving this goal with respect to Bart's posts.
 

"Bart" DePalma:

This outcome [Shia dominating the Sunnis] could have been avoided if the Sunni joined the government from the outset and accepted their minority status.

Why, oh why didn't they just listen to ol' "Bart", eh? Damn. Why, everyone else does.....

Doesn't matter, though. Counterfactual hypotheticals just ain't worth discussing. "How dare the facts of the ground disagree with me!" "Bart" would have made a poor commander; in one of the early warning signs, the U.S. military war-gamed Iraqi strategy, and the Marine assigned to "play" the Iraqis ended up blowing up the U.S. Navy. He didn't do what they expected him to do. The top brass stopped the game, reset it, and in the end cashiered him. "Bart" is seemingly just as vulnerable to the nasty surprises of reality....

Cheers,
 

@Mark Field: just to bring us back to topic and with reference to Bart DePalma: it's just hard staying in denial (and not peeking to Bart's posts)
 

"Bart" DePalma says:

However, even if we are that callous, withdrawal still leaves our sworn enemy al Qaeda a sanctuary in Iraq....

Perhaps. Might have thought of that beforehand.

... al Qaeda will claim that they drove the US out of Iraq the way they drove the Soviets out of Afghanistan and claim to have driven the US out of Somalia..

Oh. So we did support "al Qaeda" in the war against Russia. Another good move.

Anyone listening to the numbnutz that think that U.S. military adventurism is the best thing since sliced bread?

"Bart" needs to read (outside of Freeperville and WhirledNutzDaily, that is). Here's a start. Might even get a heads-up on where we went wrong in Vietnam....

Cheers,
 

Bart writes:claim to have driven the US out of Somalia.

Did they really ever make such a claim?
 

Bart:

To start, the Shia would crush the far outnumbered Sunni in an exceedingly bloody civil war which would strongly resemble the Bosnian ethnic cleansing. . . . Sunni have murdered upwards of 50,000 Shia civilians in a terror campaign with al Qaeda over the past four years. The Shia have been hitting back over the past year and would have done far worse if we had not been present. If we leave, the Shia will finish the job.

Up till now you have portrayed this war as bad guys (the insurgents) preying on innocents. This is the first time I recall you admitting that our Shiite allies are not so nice either, and that restraining them is an important part of our mission.

But that is, after all, an important part of why so many people doubt that 20,000 more troops will make any difference. Because their mission includes not only defeating insurgents, but restraining our Shiite semi-allies. Groups like the Madhi Army are growing more and more resistent to restraint and more and more eager to get with the ethnic cleansing. Keeping people determined to wage civil war from doing so is hard work, much harder than the sort of straightforward assault we staged on Fallujah. That is one of the reasons we need 500,000 troops to do the job.
 

bitswapper said...

Bart writes:claim to have driven the US out of Somalia.

Did they really ever make such a claim?

al Qaeda equates itself with Islam in general. In their speeches and fatwas, al Qaeda trumpet the victories of Islam against the US infidel as if they were their own.

bin Laden's fatwa against the US, which has been called a declaration of war, cites the victory of Islam against the US in Somlia quite prominently to rally support for the jihad against the United States.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/terrorism/
international/fatwa_1996.html

More recently, the enemy celebrated the recommendation for withdrawal in the Baker Report and claimed victory.

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/
db900SID/ACIO-6W9JJT?OpenDocument
 

Enlightened Layperson said...

But that is, after all, an important part of why so many people doubt that 20,000 more troops will make any difference. Because their mission includes not only defeating insurgents, but restraining our Shiite semi-allies. Groups like the Madhi Army are growing more and more resistent to restraint and more and more eager to get with the ethnic cleansing. Keeping people determined to wage civil war from doing so is hard work, much harder than the sort of straightforward assault we staged on Fallujah. That is one of the reasons we need 500,000 troops to do the job.

The Mahdi Army is a glorified street gang. We routed them out of Najaf with one battalion. Give me a brigade and two weeks and we can clean them out of Sadr City the same way we cleared Fallujah.

It is important not to grant the enemy imaginary super human powers. In reality, they are pretty poor fighters in a direct engagement. They are far better at killing unarmed civilians.
 

bitswapper: Bart writes:claim to have driven the US out of Somalia.

Did they really ever make such a claim?

Yeah, in an interview with ABC's John Miller in 1998, bin Laden took credit for Somalia, although the relationship is a bit fuzzy, in that it seems unclear that it was done under al-Qaeda's auspice rather than a sort of universal resistance of which al-Qaeda is a part. Do a find search in the page for Somalia, and you'll see what I mean.
 

Most disastrous president in American history? Have you looked at the starting salaries for your graduates? They never had it so good. What are you measuring by, other than the level of snideness you hear in the faculty lounge?

This may be surprising to you, but I'd be more than willing to give up much of this supposed future salary if it meant I could reverse a few Administration policies.
 

@Mark Field: just to bring us back to topic and with reference to Bart DePalma: it's just hard staying in denial (and not peeking to Bart's posts)

It gets easier with practice. :)
 

Bart:

The Mahdi Army is a glorified street gang. We routed them out of Najaf with one battalion. Give me a brigade and two weeks and we can clean them out of Sadr City the same way we cleared Fallujah.

At the risk of belaboring the obvious, a "clear and hold" strategy is about clearing and holding. It is the holding, not the clearing that makes it so labor-intensive. None of the forces we are fighting in Iraq are any match for us in direct combat. That is why they are resorting to guerrilla tactics.

Routing any hostile force has never been the problem. The questions are how do we keep them from coming back? How to we keep them from just taking their dirty work somewhere else? How do we know the "routed" forces have not just blended back into the general population? And this is not taking into account that in places like Sadr City the Madhi Army is liable to mean every able-bodied male of military age, which will make "clearing" a messy business.

So it is not enough to "clear." We must hold Najaf. And Sadr City. And Fallujah. And Tal Afar. And Ramadi. And the entire country. That is where the 500,000 troops come in.
 

I'm not sure how the Constitution was ratified since such an "amendment" to the Articles of Confederation seemed to require a unanimous vote of the states. And, Rhode Island refused to send delegates. Heck, Hamilton's signature was technically worthless since he was a minority of the NY delegation.

Assumed necessity won the day. One can find the relevant Federalist Papers quote. But, our Constitution has an out here. No need for even creative interpretation. Impeach and remove. Tie his hands in various ways. Censure him. Etc.

I think it useful to underline it is not the Constitution alone that doesn't let this happen. It helps by the institutions it sets up. But, if the people demanded it in full force, the means is there.

But, if Sen. Biden is going to equivocate or send conflicting signals on talk shows, well, I don't blame the Constitution alone. I blame those who didn't have to start this thing or make it last this long, this badly. No C. forced them.

btw my niece is an adolescent. To call the president one, well, it's sorta an insult. Many are selfish sorts, but basically have more judgment than GB. Some inherent moral compass which simply would not do this.

True enough a few do not. You hope after trusting them once, one won't again. Live and learn. Anyway, the shot seems a bit cheap, but my problem is more that it doesn't fully define the man.
 

@Mark Field: And we all have a great president to learn this denial from.
 

Professor Levinson: A completely gratuitous aside: I do not understand the venom directed at Bart DePalma.

I reckon I ride Bart second only to Arne, and thus feel it appropriate to address your remark. I can't speak for folks who have history with him at Glenn Greenwald's blog, from which Bart is apparently banned, but for myself this post best reflects Bart, especially his words:

"We are engaged in a debate, not 'proceed[ing] as partners in search of a richly nuanced truth via synthesis,' whatever you think that incomprehensible drivel means."

Then there was:

I am a black and white ideologue...

from this post and:

"Preaching to the choir on libertarian and conservative blogs is mental masturbation and is generally boring."

from the same Balkinization post.

I can't bring myself to interpret these selections, and his general behavior over the weeks I've engaged him, as aimed at anything more than vandalism. He has no use for, and apparently feels himself no use to, "his side," so he has to come to "the other side" to pick fights as a diversion. He is a member of the Colorado Bar, and so I would hold him to a higher standard than I might hold others. How a person could describe dialectic as "incomprehensible" and yet manage to pass the Bar is quite beyond me.

I see others have added their thoughts while I was pulling the links for this (and getting some work done at the day job.) There was a moment I hoped to negotiate a peace with Bart as I have come to enjoy with HumbleLawStudent (and other conservatives who are dear friends in other venues with whom I have enjoyed vigorous debate.) That moment has passed.
 

Bart: However, I suspect that your goal is in fact military defeat.

Connotation is your primary trick, it wears thin. No one here has defeat as their goal. Most of us here recognize defeat has already happened, it happened when this administration went in under false pretenses with inadequate plans like "shock and awe" and "greet us with flowers in the street." The defeat is real, it's here, it was unavoidable the way these idiots ran things. And now it is time to admit the illegal and immoral invasion and occupation of the sovereign nation of Iraq was a failure in every sense of the word, to cut our losses (oooh, there's that scary word, "cut", which the Cheney junta seems to think is just a pre-fix for "-and-run"!) and stop killing and having our brave troops killed for PNAC lies, crimes and failures.

But, true to Rovian form, you hide behind connotation to avoid confronting reality. Defeat was your reality even during the "mission accomplished" photo-op. Time to staunch the flow of blood this defeat is costing us. If you have the balls, or morals, to do the right thing. Takes a grown up to know when to fold.
 

Robert Link said...

Bart: However, I suspect that your goal is in fact military defeat.

Connotation is your primary trick, it wears thin. No one here has defeat as their goal. Most of us here recognize defeat has already happened, it happened when this administration went in under false pretenses with inadequate plans...

Those who wish to withdraw our troops and surrender Iraq to the enemy often claim that a withdrawal is not actually a defeat since the defeat has already happened. If find this excuse weak and self serving. However, I will play this game if you like.

How has our military in Iraq been defeated in any way?

Has our military lost a single battle of any size to the enemy?

Has the enemy compelled our military to retreat from any territory in Iraq?

Does the enemy control the territory of Iraq? A single province? A single province? A single city?

Does the enemy control the government of Iraq? A single province? A single city?

No?

Then, under what measure of military science can you claim that our military has been defeated?

All I can conclude is that you were personally defeated in you own mind before the fight began without personally seeing a single shot fired in anger.
 

@Bart: Nice try, but no soap. The illegal, immoral invasion and occupation of the sovereign nation of Iraq which you so vociferously defend was doomed to failure, read "defeat", indeed before the shooting started. By _your_ reasoning that failure, read "defeat", is the sole responsibility of the c-in-c, although I'd be inclined to let him share the blame with his PNAC puppeteers. Your feeble attempts to switch connotations midstream to something more suitable to your need to save face is, well, feeble.

Oh how I wish that killfile worked in the post-a-comment page...
 

Bart - just who are the enemy that you accuse some commentators of wanting to surrender Iraq to?

Is it al Qaeda? Is it the Iranians? Is it the Syrians? Is it the Saudis? Is it the Jordanians? Is the Sunnis? Is it the Shi'ites? Is it the Cylons? Please tell us.

BTW, the Channel 4 TV station in the UK recently broadcast two programmes about the war in Afghanistan. They made for very depressing viewing. For instance, the British, under equipped as always, are trying to pacify an area of ten thousand square miles with about 4,000 men. The US 10th Monutain Division consider that the are fighting a "forgotten war". The Taliban appear to be everywhere although still not in a position to stand and fight. The Americans and British need rearm the Iraqi Army and then get out of Iraq and let the current Iraqi government sort out the situation and instead focus on Afghanistan.
 

Oy, Bart. Is there no moral dimension to your reasoning at all? If we lied going in, our entire position is, to heist a phrase, fruit of a poisonous tree. There is no convolution of logic that can makes our actions viable or moral merely because we have taken control in large parts of Iraq.

We shouldn't leave because it is poor military policy - we should leave because our being there violates the basic tenets of American Democracy.
 

mesothelioma Mesotheliomais a form of cancer that is almost always caused by exposure to Asbestos In this disease, malignant cells develop in the mesothelium, a protective lining that covers most of the body's internal organs. Its most common site is the pleura (outer lining of the lungs and internal chest wall), but it may also occur in the peritoneum (the lining of the abdominal cavity), the heart the pericardium (a sac that surrounds the heart or tunica vaginalis.
Most people who develop
mesothelioma have worked on jobs where they inhaled asbestos particles, or they have been exposed to asbestos dust and fiber in other ways. Washing the clothes of a family member who worked with asbestos can also put a person at risk for developing Mesothelioma Unlike lung cancer, there is no association between mesothelioma and smoking but smoking greatly increases risk of other asbestos induced cancer.Compensation via
Asbestos funds or lawsuits is an important issue in
mesothelioma The symptoms of
mesothelioma include shortness of breath due to pleural effusion (fluid between the lung and the chest wall or chest wall pain, and general symptoms such as weight loss. The diagnosis may be suspected with chest X-ray and CT scan and is confirmed with a biopsy (tissue sample) and microscopic examination. A thoracoscopy inserting a tube with a camera into the chest) can be used to take biopsies. It allows the introduction of substances such as talc to obliterate the pleural space (called pleurodesis, which prevents more fluid from accumulating and pressing on the lung. Despite treatment with chemotherapy, radiation therapy or sometimes surgery, the disease carries a poor prognosis. Research about screening tests for the early detection of mesothelioma is ongoing.
Symptoms of mesothelioma may not appear until 20 to 50 years after exposure to asbestos. Shortness of breath, cough, and pain in the chest due to an accumulation of fluid in the pleural space are often symptoms of pleural
mesotheliomaSymptoms of peritoneal
mesothelioma include weight loss and cachexia, abdominal swelling and pain due to ascites (a buildup of fluid in the abdominal cavity). Other symptoms of peritoneal
mesothelioma may include bowel obstruction, blood clotting abnormalities, anemia, and fever. If the cancer has spread beyond the mesothelium to other parts of the body, symptoms may include pain, trouble swallowing, or swelling of the neck or face.
These symptoms may be caused by
mesothelioma or by other, less serious conditions.
Mesothelioma that affects the pleura can cause these signs and symptoms:
chest wall pain
pleural effusion, or fluid surrounding the lung
shortness of breath
fatigue or anemia
wheezing, hoarseness, or cough
blood in the sputum (fluid) coughed up hemoptysis
In severe cases, the person may have many tumor masses. The individual may develop a pneumothorax, or collapse of the lung The disease may metastasize, or spread, to other parts of the body.
Tumors that affect the abdominal cavity often do not cause symptoms until they are at a late stage. Symptoms include:
abdominal pain
ascites, or an abnormal buildup of fluid in the abdomen
a mass in the abdomen
problems with bowel function
weight loss
In severe cases of the disease, the following signs and symptoms may be present:
blood clots in the veins, which may cause thrombophlebitis
disseminated intravascular coagulation a disorder causing severe bleeding in many body organs
jaundice, or yellowing of the eyes and skin
low blood sugar level
pleural effusion
pulmonary emboli, or blood clots in the arteries of the lungs
severe ascites
A
mesothelioma does not usually spread to the bone, brain, or adrenal glands. Pleural tumors are usually found only on one side of the lungs
Diagnosing
mesothelioma is often difficult, because the symptoms are similar to those of a number of other conditions. Diagnosis begins with a review of the patient's medical history. A history of exposure to asbestos may increase clinical suspicion for
mesothelioma A physical examination is performed, followed by chest X-ray and often lung function tests. The X-ray may reveal pleural thickening commonly seen after asbestos exposure and increases suspicion of
mesothelioma A CT (or CAT) scan or an MRI is usually performed. If a large amount of fluid is present, abnormal cells may be detected by cytology if this fluid is aspirated with a syringe. For pleural fluid this is done by a pleural tap or chest drain, in ascites with an paracentesis or ascitic drain and in a pericardial effusion with pericardiocentesis. While absence of malignant cells on cytology does not completely exclude
mesothelioma it makes it much more unlikely, especially if an alternative diagnosis can be made (e.g. tuberculosis, heart failure
If cytology is positive or a plaque is regarded as suspicious, a biopsy is needed to confirm a diagnosis of
mesothelioma A doctor removes a sample of tissue for examination under a microscope by a pathologist. A biopsy may be done in different ways, depending on where the abnormal area is located. If the cancer is in the chest, the doctor may perform a thoracoscopy. In this procedure, the doctor makes a small cut through the chest wall and puts a thin, lighted tube called a thoracoscope into the chest between two ribs. Thoracoscopy allows the doctor to look inside the chest and obtain tissue samples.
If the cancer is in the abdomen, the doctor may perform a laparoscopy. To obtain tissue for examination, the doctor makes a small incision in the abdomen and inserts a special instrument into the abdominal cavity. If these procedures do not yield enough tissue, more extensive diagnostic surgery may be necessary.
There is no universally agreed protocol for screening people who have been exposed to
asbestosScreening tests might diagnose mesothelioma earlier than conventional methods thus improving the survival prospects for patients. The serum osteopontin level might be useful in screening asbestos-exposed people for
mesotheliomaThe level of soluble mesothelin-related protein is elevated in the serum of about 75% of patients at diagnosis and it has been suggested that it may be useful for screening. Doctors have begun testing the Mesomark assay which measures levels of soluble mesothelin-related proteins (SMRPs) released by diseased mesothelioma cells
Incidence
Although reported incidence rates have increased in the past 20 years, mesothelioma is still a relatively rare cancer. The incidence rate is approximately one per 1,000,000. The highest incidence is found in Britain, Australia and Belgium: 30 per 1,000,000 per year. For comparison, populations with high levels of smoking can have a lung cancer incidence of over 1,000 per 1,000,000. Incidence of malignant mesothelioma currently ranges from about 7 to 40 per 1,000,000 in industrialized Western nations, depending on the amount of asbestos exposure of the populations during the past several decades. It has been estimated that incidence may have peaked at 15 per 1,000,000 in the United States in 2004. Incidence is expected to continue increasing in other parts of the world. Mesothelioma occurs more often in men than in women and risk increases with age, but this disease can appear in either men or women at any age. Approximately one fifth to one third of all mesotheliomas are peritoneal.
Between 1940 and 1979, approximately 27.5 million people were occupationally exposed to asbestos in the United States.[ Between 1973 and 1984, there has been a threefold increase in the diagnosis of pleural mesothelioma in Caucasian males. From 1980 to the late 1990s, the death rate from mesothelioma in the USA increased from 2,000 per year to 3,000, with men four times more likely to acquire it than women. These rates may not be accurate, since it is possible that many cases of mesothelioma are misdiagnosed as adenocarcinoma of the lung, which is difficult to differentiate from mesothelioma.
Working with asbestos is the major risk factor for mesothelioma. A history of asbestos exposure exists in almost all cases. However, mesothelioma has been reported in some individuals without any known exposure to asbestos. In rare cases, mesothelioma has also been associated with irradiation, intrapleural thorium dioxide (Thorotrast), and inhalation of other fibrous silicates, such as erionite.
asbestos
is the name of a group of minerals that occur naturally as masses of strong, flexible fibers that can be separated into thin threads and woven.
asbestos
has been widely used in many industrial products, including cement, brake linings, roof shingles, flooring products, textiles, and insulation. If tiny asbestos particles float in the air, especially during the manufacturing process, they may be inhaled or swallowed, and can cause serious health problems. In addition to mesothelioma, exposure to asbestos increases the risk of lung cancer, asbestosis (a noncancerous, chronic lung ailment), and other cancers, such as those of the larynx and kidney.
The combination of smoking and
asbestos exposure significantly increases a person's risk of developing cancer of the airways (lung cancer bronchial carcinoma). The Kent brand of cigarettes used
mesothelioma in its filters for the first few years of production in the 1950s and some cases of
mesothelioma have resulted. Smoking modern cigarettes does not appear to increase the risk of mesothelioma.
Some studies suggest that simian virus 40 may act as a cofactor in the development of mesothelioma.
Asbestos was known in antiquity, but it wasn't mined and widely used commercially until the late 1800s. Its use greatly increased during World War II Since the early 1940s, millions of American workers have been exposed to asbestos dust. Initially, the risks associated with
asbestos exposure were not publicly known. However, an increased risk of developing mesothelioma was later found among shipyard workers, people who work in asbestos mines and mills, producers of asbestos products, workers in the heating and construction industries, and other tradespeople. Today, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) sets limits for acceptable levels of
asbestos exposure in the workplace, and created guidelines for engineering controls and respirators, protective clothing, exposure monitoring, hygiene facilities and practices, warning signs, labeling, recordkeeping, and medical exams. By contrast, the British Government's Health and Safety Executive (HSE) states formally that any threshold for
mesothelioma must be at a very low level and it is widely agreed that if any such threshold does exist at all, then it cannot currently be quantified. For practical purposes, therefore, HSE does not assume that any such threshold exists. People who work with
asbestos wear personal protective equipment to lower their risk of exposure. Recent findings have shown that a mineral called erionite has been known to cause genetically pre-dispositioned individuals to have malignant mesothelioma rates much higher than those not pre-dispositioned genetically. A study in Cappadocia, Turkey has shown that 3 villiages in Turkey have death rates of 51% attributed to erionite related
mesotheliomaExposure to
asbestos fibres has been recognised as an occupational health hazard since the early 1900s. Several epidemiological studies have associated exposure to asbestos with the development of lesions such as asbestos bodies in the sputum, pleural plaques, diffuse pleural thickening, asbestosis, carcinoma of the lung and larynx, gastrointestinal tumours, and diffuse mesothelioma of the pleura and peritoneum.
The documented presence of
asbestos fibres in water supplies and food products has fostered concerns about the possible impact of long-term and, as yet, unknown exposure of the general population to these fibres. Although many authorities consider brief or transient exposure to
asbestos fibres as inconsequential and an unlikely risk factor, some epidemiologists claim that there is no risk threshold. Cases of mesothelioma have been found in people whose only exposure was breathing the air through ventilation systems. Other cases had very minimal (3 months or less) direct exposure.
Commercial
asbestos mining at Wittenoom, Western Australia, occurred between 1945 and 1966. A cohort study of miners employed at the mine reported that while no deaths occurred within the first 10 years after crocidolite exposure, 85 deaths attributable to mesothelioma had occurred by 1985. By 1994, 539 reported deaths due to mesothelioma had been reported in Western Australia.
Family members and others living with
asbestos workers have an increased risk of developing
mesothelioma and possibly other asbestos related diseases. This risk may be the result of exposure to
asbestos dust brought home on the clothing and hair of
asbestos workers. To reduce the chance of exposing family members to asbestosMany building materials used in both public and domestic premises prior to the banning of
asbestos may contain
asbestos Those performing renovation works or activities may expose themselves to asbestos dust. In the UK use of Chrysotile asbestos was banned at the end of 1999. Brown and blue
asbestos was banned in the UK around 1985. Buildings built or renovated prior to these dates may contain asbestos materials.
For patients with localized disease, and who can tolerate a radical surgery, radiation is often given post-operatively as a consolidative treatment. The entire hemi-thorax is treated with radiation therapy, often given simultaneously with chemotherapy. Delivering radiation and chemotherapy after a radical surgery has led to extended life expectancy in selected patient populations with some patients surviving more than 5 years. As part of a curative approach to
mesothelioma radiotherapy is also commonly applied to the sites of chest drain insertion, in order to prevent growth of the tumor along the track in the chest wall.
Although
mesothelioma is generally resistant to curative treatment with radiotherapy alone, palliative treatment regimens are sometimes used to relieve symptoms arising from tumor growth, such as obstruction of a major blood vessel.
Radiation Therapy when given alone with curative intent has never been shown to improve survival from
mesothelioma The necessary radiation dose to treat mesothelioma that has not been surgically removed would be very toxic.
Chemotherapy is the only treatment for
mesothelioma that has been proven to improve survival in randomised and controlled trials. The landmark study published in 2003 by Vogelzang and colleagues compared cisplatin chemotherapy alone with a combination of cisplatin and pemetrexed (brand name Alimta) chemotherapy) in patients who had not received chemotherapy for malignant pleural mesothelioma previously and were not candidates for more aggressive "curative" surgery. This trial was the first to report a survival advantage from chemotherapy in malignant pleural
mesothelioma showing a statistically significant improvement in median survival from 10 months in the patients treated with cisplatin alone to 13.3 months in the combination pemetrexed group in patients who received supplementation with folate and vitamin B12. Vitamin supplementation was given to most patients in the trial and pemetrexed related side effects were significantly less in patients receiving pemetrexed when they also received daily oral folate 500mcg and intramuscular vitamin B12 1000mcg every 9 weeks compared with patients receiving pemetrexed without vitamin supplementation. The objective response rate increased from 20% in the cisplatin group to 46% in the combination pemetrexed group. Some side effects such as nausea and vomiting, stomatitis, and diarrhoea were more common in the combination pemetrexed group but only affected a minority of patients and overall the combination of pemetrexed and cisplatin was well tolerated when patients received vitamin supplementation; both quality of life and lung function tests improved in the combination pemetrexed group. In February 2004, the United States Food and Drug Administration approved pemetrexed for treatment of malignant pleural mesothelioma. However, there are still unanswered questions about the optimal use of chemotherapy, including when to start treatment, and the optimal number of cycles to give.
Cisplatin in combination with raltitrexed has shown an improvement in survival similar to that reported for pemetrexed in combination with cisplatin, but raltitrexed is no longer commercially available for this indication. For patients unable to tolerate pemetrexed, cisplatin in combination with gemcitabine or vinorelbine is an alternative, although a survival benefit has not been shown for these drugs. For patients in whom cisplatin cannot be used, carboplatin can be substituted but non-randomised data have shown lower response rates and high rates of haematological toxicity for carboplatin-based combinations, albeit with similar survival figures to patients receiving cisplatin.
In January 2009, the United States FDA approved using conventional therapies such as surgery in combination with radiation and or chemotherapy on stage I or II Mesothelioma after research conducted by a nationwide study by Duke University concluded an almost 50 point increase in remission rates.
Treatment regimens involving immunotherapy have yielded variable results. For example, intrapleural inoculation of Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) in an attempt to boost the immune response, was found to be of no benefit to the patient (while it may benefit patients with bladder cancer.
mesothelioma cells proved susceptible to in vitro lysis by LAK cells following activation by interleukin-2 (IL-2), but patients undergoing this particular therapy experienced major side effects. Indeed, this trial was suspended in view of the unacceptably high levels of IL-2 toxicity and the severity of side effects such as fever and cachexia. Nonetheless, other trials involving interferon alpha have proved more encouraging with 20% of patients experiencing a greater than 50% reduction in tumor mass combined with minimal side effects.
A procedure known as heated intraoperative intraperitoneal chemotherapy was developed by at the Washington Cancer Institute. The surgeon removes as much of the tumor as possible followed by the direct administration of a chemotherapy agent, heated to between 40 and 48°C, in the abdomen. The fluid is perfused for 60 to 120 minutes and then drained.
This technique permits the administration of high concentrations of selected drugs into the abdominal and pelvic surfaces. Heating the chemotherapy treatment increases the penetration of the drugs into tissues. Also, heating itself damages the malignant cells more than the normal cells.

What is the mesothelium?
The mesothelium is a membrane that covers and protects most of the internal organs of the body. It is composed of two layers of cells: One layer immediately surrounds the organ; the other forms a sac around it. The mesothelium produces a lubricating fluid that is released between these layers, allowing moving organs (such as the beating heart and the expanding and contracting lungs to glide easily against adjacent structures.
The mesothelium has different names, depending on its location in the body. The peritoneum is the mesothelial tissue that covers most of the organs in the abdominal cavity. The pleura is the membrane that surrounds the lungs and lines the wall of the chest cavity. The pericardium covers and protects the heart. The
mesothelioma tissue surrounding the male internal reproductive organs is called the tunica vaginalis testis. The tunica serosa uteri covers the internal reproductive organs in women.
What is mesothelioma?
mesothelioma (cancer of the mesothelium) is a disease in which cells of the mesothelium become abnormal and divide without control or order. They can invade and damage nearby tissues and organs.
cancer cells can also metastasize (spread) from their original site to other parts of the body. Most cases of mesothelioma begin in the pleura or peritoneum.
How common is mesothelioma?
Although reported incidence rates have increased in the past 20 years, mesothelioma is still a relatively rare cancer. About 2,000 new cases of mesothelioma are diagnosed in the United States each year. Mesothelioma occurs more often in men than in women and risk increases with age, but this disease can appear in either men or women at any age.
What are the risk factors for mesothelioma?
Working with asbestos is the major risk factor for mesothelioma. A history of asbestos exposure at work is reported in about 70 percent to 80 percent of all cases. However, mesothelioma has been reported in some individuals without any known exposure to
Asbestos is the name of a group of minerals that occur naturally as masses of strong, flexible fibers that can be separated into thin threads and woven. asbestos has been widely used in many industrial products, including cement, brake linings, roof shingles, flooring products, textiles, and insulation. If tiny asbestos particles float in the air, especially during the manufacturing process, they may be inhaled or swallowed, and can cause serious health problems. In addition to mesothelioma, exposure to asbestos increases the risk of lung cancer, asbestosis (a noncancerous, chronic lung ailment), and other cancers, such as those of the larynx and kidney.
Smoking does not appear to increase the risk of mesothelioma. However, the combination of smoking and asbestos exposure significantly increases a person's risk of developing cancer of the air passageways in the lung.
Who is at increased risk for developing mesothelioma?
asbestos has been mined and used commercially since the late 1800s. Its use greatly increased during World War II. Since the early 1940s, millions of American workers have been exposed to asbestos dust. Initially, the risks associated with asbestos exposure were not known. However, an increased risk of developing mesothelioma was later found among shipyard workers, people who work in asbestos. Today, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) sets limits for acceptable levels of asbestos exposure in the workplace. People who work with asbestos wear personal protective equipment to lower their risk of exposure.
The risk o f asbestosrelated disease increases with heavier exposure to asbestos and longer exposure time. However, some individuals with only brief exposures have developed mesothelioma On the other hand, not all workers who are heavily exposed develop asbestos-related diseases.
There is some evidence that family members and others living with asbestos workers have an increased risk of developing mesothelioma, and possibly other asbestos-related diseases. This risk may be the result of exposure to
asbestos dust brought home on the clothing and hair of
asbestos workers. To reduce the chance of exposing family members to
asbestos fibers, asbestos workers are usually required to shower and change their clothing before leaving the workplace.
What are the symptoms of mesothelioma?
Symptoms of mesothelioma may not appear until 30 to 50 years after exposure to
asbestos Shortness of breath and pain in the chest due to an accumulation of fluid in the pleura are often symptoms of pleural mesothelioma. Symptoms of peritoneal mesothelioma include weight loss and abdominal pain and swelling due to a buildup of fluid in the abdomen. Other symptoms of peritoneal mesothelioma may include bowel obstruction blood clotting abnormalities, anemia, and fever. If the cancer has spread beyond the mesothelium to other parts of the body, symptoms may include pain, trouble swallowing, or swelling of the neck or face.
These symptoms may be caused by
mesothelioma or by other, less serious conditions. It is important to see a doctor about any of these symptoms. Only a doctor can make a diagnosis
How is
mesotheliomadiagnosed?
Diagnosing mesothelioma is often difficult, because the symptoms are similar to those of a number of other conditions. Diagnosis begins with a review of the patient's medical history, including any history of asbestos exposure. A complete physical examination may be performed, including x-rays of the chest or abdomen and lung function tests. A CT (or CAT) scan or an MRI may also be useful. A CT scan is a series of detailed pictures of areas inside the body created by a computer linked to an x-ray machine. In an MRI, a powerful magnet linked to a computer is used to make detailed pictures of areas inside the body. These pictures are viewed on a monitor and can also be printed.
A biopsy is needed to confirm a diagnosis of mesothelioma. In a biopsy, a surgeon or a medical oncologist (a doctor who specializes in diagnosing and treating cancer) removes a sample of tissue for examination under a microscope by a pathologist. A biopsy may be done in different ways, depending on where the abnormal area is located. If the
cancer is in the chest, the doctor may perform a thoracoscopy. In this procedure, the doctor makes a small cut through the chest wall and puts a thin, lighted tube called a thoracoscope into the chest between two ribs. Thoracoscopy allows the doctor to look inside the chest and obtain tissue samples. If the
cancer is in the abdomen, the doctor may perform a peritoneoscopy. To obtain tissue for examination, the doctor makes a small opening in the abdomen and inserts a special instrument called a peritoneoscope into the abdominal cavity. If these procedures do not yield enough tissue, more extensive diagnostic surgery may be necessary.
If the diagnosis is mesothelioma, the doctor will want to learn the stage (or extent) of the disease. Staging involves more tests in a careful attempt to find out whether the cancer has spread and, if so, to which parts of the body. Knowing the stage of the disease helps the doctor plan treatment.
Mesothelioma is described as localized if the cancer is found only on the membrane surface where it originated. It is classified as advanced if it has spread beyond the original membrane surface to other parts of the body, such as the lymph nodes, lungs, chest wall, or abdominal organs.
How is
mesotheliomatreated?
Treatment for mesothelioma depends on the location of the
cancerthe stage of the disease, and the patient's age and general health. Standard treatment options include surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy. Sometimes, these treatments are combined.
Surgery is a common treatment for
mesotheliomaThe doctor may remove part of the lining of the chest or abdomen and some of the tissue around it. For cancer of the pleura (pleural
mesotheliomaa lung may be removed in an operation called a pneumonectomy. Sometimes part of the diaphragm, the muscle below the lungs that helps with breathing, is also removed.
Stereo Tactic Radiation Therapy also called radiotherapy, involves the use of high-energy rays to kill
cancercells and shrink tumors Radiation therapy affects the
cancercells only in the treated area. The radiation may come from a machine (external radiation) or from putting materials that produce radiation through thin plastic tubes into the area where the
cancercells are found (internal radiation therapy).
Chemotherapy is the use of anticancer drugs to kill cancer cells throughout the body. Most drugs used to treat
mesotheliomaare given by injection into a vein (intravenous, or IV). Doctors are also studying the effectiveness of putting chemotherapy directly into the chest or abdomen (intracavitary chemotherapy).
To relieve symptoms and control pain, the doctor may use a needle or a thin tube to drain fluid that has built up in the chest or abdomen. The procedure for removing fluid from the chest is called thoracentesis. Removal of fluid from the abdomen is called paracentesis. Drugs may be given through a tube in the chest to prevent more fluid from accumulating. Radiation Therapy and surgery may also be helpful in relieving symptoms.