This underscores the genesis of this disaster when we forgot about Osama bin Laden and refocused the war on terror to Saddam Hussein who didn't have WMDs, did not want war with us, and posed no threat to the United States. So while recognizing the success that the surge had from tactical military standpoint, I remain strongly opposed to the war.
I will never dismiss the falsehoods of why we went to Iraq as a moot point. Too many people have suffered and died for the sane and rational to have the cavalier opinion of "to hell with it, forget why we are there, we just need to win."
I'll leave that to the people who will forever buy the Bush mantra hook, line, and sinker. They can't be reached and luckily they are in the lowest of the minority. Their main argument: we have to fight them there so we don't have to fight them here. Really? Or is that just a way to legitimize sending another soldier or Marine back to Iraq for his fourth or fifth deployment? As if the Iraqi insurgents could possibly come "over here" in the masses to invade America -- give me a break. We are fighting the Iraqis "over there" because we are in Iraq -- plain and simple.
It's crucial for us all understand the Iraqi insurgency has been disguised by the Bush Administration as AQI -- Al Qaeda in Iraq . Catchy name isn't it -- and oh what a convenient excuse to keep the war going. Let's justify the last 5+ years of death and destruction by lumping the violent reaction of the Iraqi people to an occupation of their land into the same category as those who orchestrated and carried out 9/11.
This very same crowd living in a "fools paradise" continuously attempt to latch onto some illusion that this tragic episode in American/Iraqi history was a colossal failure that falls on the back of U.S. intelligence agencies. Come on, Bush was going in regardless of what the CIA told him.
Now the latest propaganda being formulated by those in a perpetual state of denial is that the Bush Administration initiated this war and occupation as philanthropists for the Iraqi people. Explain that philanthropy to the 4.5 million Iraqi refugees, the families of the uncountable number of dead Iraqi civilians, and the U.S. troops who had to bear witness to it and died in the process.
The same Iraqi government elected by its people who President Bush proclaims such compassion for are asking us to set a timeline to leave. Why is the blatantly obvious impossible for the average warmonger to grasp? The reality is that their numbskulls deny them the humility to admit it.
I'm well aware that this sounds irresponsible. But if the Iraqis want to do it "John Wayne" style from here on out -- why should we interfere? After all, according to the Iraqi government they are just so close to standing up so we can stand down. Sound familiar?
We have tried so many military strategies in Iraq in an effort to clean up President Bush's mess. The only road we haven't explored is the road home. Just something to think about.
The Huffington Post, August 4, 2008 | 02:54 PM (EST)
John Bruhns