JMO - Thoughts on Iraq

I was reading George Bush's comments on the 4,000 troops lost in Iraq, not to forget the 30,000+ permanently disabled and injured troops. I won't touch the issue of the innocent Iraqis killed, injured, disabled, displaced and emigrated. I was amazed that George doesn't seem to get the Vietnam connection, and not about the country, strategy or tactics, that's all different.

It's about the rhetoric. It hasn't changed. But what does bother me is the number of people who worked to create and justify this war, those neocons, especially Cheney, Rumsfeldt, Wolfwitz, etal, who lived through the Vietnam war era but didn't serve or have any military experience, and tout war as the answer. Even George Bush, who "served" on paper but didn't really serve (sorry, he's never proven he was on active duty and papers show him elsewhere), talks about the sacrifice?

I mean who can believe a man who tried to escape even Air National Guard duty? What can he say to the families of the 4,000+ dead soldiers? To the 30,000+ injured and disabled? He told the audience that he didn't want them to know their sacrifice was in vain. Hmmm..., somehow I heard that three-plus decades ago from two other Presidents about the 58,000 dead and 100,000+ injured and disabled from Vietnam.

If you want to believe what George and company wanted in Iraq, watch the PBS Frontline documentary on the Iraq war. If you've seen it, do you really still believe what he's said about why we're in Iraq? Remember the 2003 State of the Union address? Nothing he said was true and everything he didn't say was true, it was about global geopolitics and oil.

Then read the Washington Post series on Dick Cheney. Still believe this elite groups of neocons have America's and the American people's interests at heart, or their own personal interests and those of their corporate friends? A small handful of elistist egotist have damaged this country, this nation and the people more than any administration in history.

And we'll all pay well into the future, especially the young. I feel sorry for the youth of America. We, being a Vietnam-era vet and youth, still have the aftermath and after effects from that war, started and continued by a World War II generation of elistist and egos. We should have known better with Iraq except those that started and continue this war weren't of our experience. What didn't and don't the neocons understand about history?

What's my point here, beside ranting or venting, again? I don't know, but it sure relieves the anger and frustration about Iraq. I will always believe this was a wrong war. And I know we can't withdraw in the immediate future, no matter what the candidates say, but we can't stay more than about 4-6 more years without bankrupting the military, America and American's.

Bush's legacy will be giving us a war that can't end without losing. We might find a military victory in some sense, much like Vietnam where we announce victory for name sake, but unlike Vietnam where we completely left, in Iraq we'll stay. We'll have 3 or 4 permanent bases, the world's largest US embassy, and something on the order of 50-100,000 troops with as many private contractors.

That's my guess for the situation in five years or so, and probably worth as much as anyone elses. Even the best analysists and experts can't seem to provide any clear idea except muddy, fuzzy ideas about potentials and possibilities. So, I'm always open to hearing new ideas about what could and might happen, and hopefully, we'll begin to see something approaching reality. Or not.

And for now we're in the middle of a quagmire, where we're damed if we stay and damned if we leave. And the dead, injured and disabled on all sides will continue.