Thursday, March 20, 2008

Victory in Iraq: What EXACTLY is it?

Bush and his lap dogs attack the patriotism of their critics and declare this war a success, but ask yourself a very important question: What exactly are we winning?

Because it costs us more than $12B each month. And 4,000 American lives. And 100,000 American casualties. (note these figures do not include contractors, only military).

Our soldiers have won the war. And 140,000 of them are winning the peace. Our military has heroically done what has been asked of them and done so despite being treated deplorably, with a lack of armor, 15 month deployments, stop-loss orders, and despicable tactics used to not pay them after they are injured and discharged. They have won, at least tactically.

In support of what, EXACTLY?

There is no strategic goal for America in Iraq. Lets say that Iraq starts actually functioning. So what? Once we leave, they have the same problems as the rest of the Mideast. Or does Bush thing it will be like Disneyland when this debacle is over?

If its a democracy, they are going to vote for the type of government they want. And if you haven't noticed, they don't want anything like what we call democracy. And its unlikely to be sympathetic to America after 5 years of occupation (or 100 more)

And in Bush's world, democracy includes torture, revoking the right to a lawyer and to be brought before a judge and told the charges against you (habeous corpus), the ability of the President to ignore the laws, the right to prevent free speech, and more. Obviously, Bush doesn't know what a democracy is either, although he is damn good at destroying one.

By the time this war ends, it will cost every American taxpayer $1 million dollars. And that debt will be payed for by generations of Americans, who will have to pay off this debt at the expense of choices they might want to make for themselves. And they will have nothing to show for it. The world around them, unburdened by this crushing debt, will have more options and become more competitive as America falls behind on paying the bill for this war.

But its not just a future problem. The dollar is collapsing, driving up the cost of fuel, food, and everything else. The interest rate is falling, trying to prevent the economy from collapsing. This increases inflation, driving up costs and the value of the dollar down. All of which makes America a bad place to invest, so no one will invest or buy our debt because they can get a better return elsewhere, forcing interest rates up.

Its the perfect storm, created by the perfect idiot.

There is no victory in Iraq, now or in the future. And its not the fault of our military. Its Bush's fault. In practical terms, America has already been defeated by Al Qeida. Because this is exactly what guerrilla (asymmetric) warfare is. You get the larger opponent to stay in the field where you can bleed him slowly, driving up his costs, weakening him over time. Its just a bonus that our idiot president likes torture, is criminal in is actions, is blind to realities, and has done more harm to America than Al Qeida ever dreamed. And Osama Bin Ladin is alive to savor his victory because Bush sent the Military to attach Iraq to prove to his daddy who has the bigger Dick Cheney.

And that's what victory is. It just isn't our victory.

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