I’m so sick of Condi and her “figurative” tactical errors, of Rummy and his obstinance, of Bush and his “I blame the media” shtick. Despite all they say, Iraq is hell on earth, and we have no one to blame but our Leader-in-Chief and his minions. That reality is made crystal clear in this story which describes another grim day of death and destruction:
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — Three suicide bombers on Friday struck a Baghdad mosque affiliated with a major Shiite political party, killing at least 74 people, according to the Iraqi Health Ministry.
Another 136 people were wounded, authorities said.
The attack occurred a day after a bomb killed 10 people and wounded a few dozen others near the Imam Ali shrine in Najaf, the holy Shiite city in south-central Iraq.
74 deaths. 136 wounded. Three bombers. One day in the life of Iraq, much like any other day there.
And the truth is we don’t even know who’s responsible for this massacre. The Sunni insurgency? Groups affiliated with Al Qaida? An opposing Shi’ite faction? It really doesn’t matter. Every action Bush and Co. have taken has led inexorably to the anarchy and slaughter which is now a constant for everyone living (and dying) in the Iraq our occupation has created.
Doctors kidnapped, murdered or fleeing the country. Water treatment plants half completed or in ruins. Reporters, Arab or foreign fearful for their lives everytime they go out to investigate a story. Billions of reconstruction money lost to corruption or mismanagement. Stalled negotiations to form a new government, made worse by our own Secretary of State’s clumsy meddling. Death squads on the loose and out of control. Internal refugees, both Sunni and Shi’ite alike, who have abandoned communities where they were in the minority. Less electrical power each day than when Saddam was the ruler, even three years after the “liberation” we supposedly engineered. More of our troops dying and more of them suffering physical and psychological wounds that will never truly heal.
John Kerry is right to call for a deadline to pull out of Iraq, and those who mock his efforts are simply despicable toadies supporting a failed Presidency, or callous Democratis politicians (Senator Clinton are you listening?) still angling to out macho the Republicans on National Security issues. Anyone who can’t see that staying in Iraq serves no point is either stupid, venal, or possibly both.
For it is time for us to leave. We won’t, of course, not as long as Bush (or any other Republican for that matter) is President. So long as he holds power the horrible drumbeat of death and destruction will continue, if only to assuage his poor insecure ego from the damage it would suffer from having to admit he made a mistake.
And the Democrats in the Senate are afraid to even censure Bush? Afraid (with a few notable exceptions) to stand up to Bush’s disastrous war policy that is bleeding our country of lives, treasure and moral integrity each day it continues? Cowards.
Donald Rumsfeld
(tag Condoleeza Rice))
Suicide Bombers
