And I thought it was hot where I live.
The predicted high temperature for Baghdad Thursday, according to weather.com, is 117 degrees Farenheit. Baghdad’s predicted low of 95 degrees will still be hotter than the predicted high where I live. It must be hard to do much of anything when the temperatures reach that high, and where the electricity only works for an hour or two per day (except in the Green Zone or on a US military base). So one would expect that the insurgents might be a little less active this time of year, if only because carrying around high explosives, RPG launchers, mortars and the odd AK-47 has got to be more than just a little bit draining in 110+ degree heat.
And in the past that’s been true. In July, 2006, for example, only 46 American and other Coalition soldiers serving in Iraq were killed, the second lowest monthly total for all last year (only March had a lower total that year). This year, however, the number of Coalition deaths in July climbed to 87. That’s an increase of over 89% from the previous year. Not a statistic one would normally cheer about, unless you don’t really value the lives of the soldiers serving in Iraq.
Still, it is the lowest monthly figure of Coalition troops killed in action for all of 2007. So, from the standpoint of your average war supporter this is just more proof that the the Great and Wonderful Surge is succeeding beyond all expectations, right? Certainly, it’s a figure Ken Pollack, Michael O’Hanlon and Dick Cheney will no doubt point to with pride in the coming weeks as they argue for extending Field Marshall Kagan’s strategical stroke of genius into 2008, and beyond.
At least it should be clear to everyone now what the slogan “Support the Troops” really means when a war proponent utters it. …
(Cont.)
… To be frank, I wouldn’t have the balls to claim that leading cheers for Bush’s war from my air conditioned home or office back in the US of A, while our service people patrol the bomb infested streets of Baghdad in full combat gear in mid-Summer under a hot desert sun, was the one and only true way to “support the troops.” And even though I have contributed to charities which forward phone cards, magazines, DVDs or other niceties to soldiers serving in Iraq (many of which also receive donations from war proponents), I wouldn’t count that as satisfying my obligation to the welfare of these men and women, either.
Instead, I have the funny notion that speaking out against this crazy, useless war, and lobbying my Congressional representatives to withdraw our forces from Iraq so no more of them have to die needlessly for the sake of our President’s lies and mistakes is the best way I can show my support for the suffering that they and their families have endured. I tend to think war should be a last resort, and not a matter of one man’s mere whim or caprice. That doesn’t make me a hero by any means. It is, to be honest, the least any of us should be doing now, now that we know that the war in Iraq was, has been, and will continue to be a mistake, one which is making us less secure even as we sacrifice more of the lives of our service men and women on the altar of Bush’s ill-founded “honor.”
Then again, what do I know? I believe wars and military conflicts create a poor foundation for our nation’s foreign relations, just like George Washington:
Observe good faith and justice towards all nations; cultivate peace and harmony with all. Religion and morality enjoin this conduct; and can it be, that good policy does not equally enjoin it 7 It will be worthy of a free, enlightened, and at no distant period, a great nation, to give to mankind the magnanimous and too novel example of a people always guided by an exalted justice and benevolence. Who can doubt that, in the course of time and things, the fruits of such a plan would richly repay any temporary advantages which might be lost by a steady adherence to it ? Can it be that Providence has not connected the permanent felicity of a nation with its virtue ? The experiment, at least, is recommended by every sentiment which ennobles human nature. Alas! is it rendered impossible by its vices?
In the execution of such a plan, nothing is more essential than that permanent, inveterate antipathies against particular nations, and passionate attachments for others, should be excluded; and that, in place of them, just and amicable feelings towards all should be cultivated. The nation which indulges towards another a habitual hatred or a habitual fondness is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to its animosity or to its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its interest. Antipathy in one nation against another disposes each more readily to offer insult and injury, to lay hold of slight causes of umbrage, and to be haughty and intractable, when accidental or trifling occasions of dispute occur. Hence, frequent collisions, obstinate, envenomed, and bloody contests.
Bush’s folly has already sacrificed too much. Too many lives, Americans and Iraqis alike, have been destroyed. Too many dollars have been squandered. Too much international good will has been lost. And, yes, too much of our national security has been placed at risk by this insane delusion that we are combating “international terrorism” in Iraq. It’s time to end the escalation of the war. Time to withdraw our troops and let the Iraqis, with the support of the UN and neighboring countries, who have a vested interest in a stable and peaceful Iraq, seek the political solution to the sectarian strife which our invasion and armed occupation engendered, and which our continued presence there will only impede.
Time to for us to bring our soldiers home.
