Article: A lost War; A Failed Presidency

If a poll is taken, and 60% of Americans want to end this war on the Democrats timetable, then why do we have John McCain saying he “will do battle” with the Democrats over this budget request to fund this war? Let’s not even go to the obvious matters; that we were duped into believing that Hussain had WMD’s, or that everything the Republicans said they were going to “fix” in Iraq has not only failed to happen, but that the situation has actually gotten worse, or the fact that this has changed from a regime replacement to an all out “civil war”. Let us instead concentrate on the ground war where winning seems as impossible as ever. Let’s go to the fact that our military, far from actually stopping the violence that the Iraqi people must bear the brunt of, has actually caused more harm than good.

Why should we support a military that has made as many mistakes as the administration has made? The reality of the situation is that the strongest power on Earth has been beaten back by insurgents on the backs of Toyota 4-runners. This is no longer just the Administrations fault, it is also the Joint Chiefs of Staff fault. We have spent over 400 Billion dollars and lost almost 3100 lives and over ten times that are physically wounded and we don’t know how many have suffered psychological damage, and we are still no closer to seeing the end of this war. I believe that if I was for this war at the beginning (which I wasn’t) I would surely be against this war now. What seems to be the problem? If the military can’t prosecute this war successfully, they why keep throwing money at them? It just doesn’t make sense.

Since this war started, Congress has not interfered once. This spending bill with the attached pullout date is the first time that Congress has actually taken a stand on this war, yet, we see the Administration and many Republicans already pointing fingers at them for stifling the military. This simply isn’t true. Congress has bent over backwards to give the President and the military everything they have needed up to this point, and they have repaid that support with claims that they are “surrendering”. If this is surrendering, well it’s about time. We are no closer to ending the sectarian violence in Iraq than we were two years ago.

How much longer are we to support a war we are not winning? The Generals have been replaced more than once, the tactics have been changed, what else is left to change so that we can produce what amounts to some kind of victory? Is going after Iran, which is now the focus of the Administrations ire going to solve anything? If we can’t strop the sectarian violence in Iraq, how does Bush and company thing that we can take on the sectarian violence in Iraq and a confrontation with a first rate organized military operating on it’s home turf? This is absolutely ridiculous. Enough is enough already. The time for ‘winning” this war in Iraq has come and gone.

This is what Mr. Bush doesn’t understand. He must have been sleeping or doing drugs the day they taught students about fighting a war in school. He does not understand that in most wars you have a side that is victorious and a side that loses the war. The lesson that he should be made to understand now, is that starting another war in the country next door to Iraq will not do anything to change the outcome in Iraq. There is a point when a nation loses it’s will to fight. After over four years of bloodshed on both sides, it would seem that the American people do not want to sacrifice anymore of their sons and daughters to Bush’s failed plan to capture Iraqi oilfields and to have a US “puppet” state in the Middle East. Over 60% of the people in the US are tired of war and tired of the excuses that are issued daily by the Pentagon and the administration.

This entire escapade has gone on for too long. The Democrats are salivating over 2008, thinking of a Democratic Congress and a Democratic administration. They have no real interest in actually stopping this war. The longer it plays out, the easier it will be for the Democrats to pick up more seats in Congress and to regain the Presidency. It seems that the people that are demonstrating for an end to this war have no real allies in Washington. This war is good for the Democrats and bad for the Republicans. Those politicians that are banking on a US win in Iraq like McCain and Lieberman will be sorely tested in the coming months, as the people are sick to death of Iraq. The fact is that the sooner we get the hell out of there, the sooner we can start to clean out Congress by getting the game players new jobs and electing statesman that will do he will of the people instead of playing politics with peoples lives.