As we wait for the (highly predictable) Petraeus Report in September, it is the group of reports coming in from insiders, politicians and news people that make the future look even grimmer than previously imagined.
Example: Generals in Iraq are predicting that, in order to hold things together while the country is worked out politically we will probably have to stay there for nine or ten years…
Example: Everything that happens in the Iraqi Civil War is labeled as “Al Quaeda” by our government… and the TV and news reporters just repeat it without investigation…
Example: Bush now names the Iranian military as a “terrorist organization” which, I assume, gives him the supposed right to extend his current powers into invading Iran…
Example: Our government is now considering the draft to keep up the numbers in a shrinking military…
That we continue to expand our presence in the midst of the Civil War is almost like being suicide fighters ourselves. When promoting the “surge” Bush was clear that more of our soldiers would die… that there would be an increase… and this was planned for. If that isn’t definitively suicide as much as the Sunni driver of an exploding car, I don’t know what is. The ends do NOT justify the means.
As we hear the debates on just how hard it would be and how long it would take to bring our soldiers home, I wonder where those debates were on how easy it would be when we invaded. We did not debate then… we went in. If we did not debate now, but just came out, would the ultimate effects be any different?
– If we leave, the place will turn into Armageddon and it will be our responsibility. If we stay, however, it will be Armageddon with us in the middle.
– If we leave, they will follow us to the US and fight us here. Somehow I don’t see the Shi’ite Militia coming over the hill in Maryland. Do you?
– If we leave, we lose our honor. You may not know this, but in most of the world we have lost that honor just by being there.
What if there were a report from the majority of American people (last polled over 70%) who want the war ended? Would anyone in the current Administration bother to read such a People’s Report?
And the election is still far enough away that even more damage can be done.
