Here's a thought for you: We are not at war in Iraq, therefore we cannot lose or win. We went to "war" with Saddam Hussein; he is dead. All rationale for going into Iraq has proved fraudulent, some of it intentionally so. We are not at war with Iraq and we are not at war in Iraq. We are in the middle of a sectarian conflict that we certainly unleashed and inflamed, but we are not at war with Sunnis and Shiites or with the nation of Iraq. All this Republican talk about "defeat" and "surrender" is baseless when it comes to our situation in Iraq. But when it comes to the things we are supposedly fighting for -- liberty, justice and freedom -- we have most certainly lost. We surrendered to fear and have lost the respect, admiration and friendship of much of the global community. Our defeat is a moral one and for a country that claimed "moral values" to be a top factor in our vote, we as a nation have seriously lost our way -- not to mention our credibility, both abroad and at home. We are now truly incredible and unbelievable, but not in any good sense at all.
Amazingly, it is the "moral values" crowd on Capital Hill that pushes the "defeatist" angle and it is disingenuous at best, criminal at worst. House Republican leader John Boehner recently accused Democrats of seeking "an arbitrary surrender date." Surrender? To whom? Not to al-Qaida -- we surrendered to them when we took the majority of our forces out of Afghanistan and sent them into Iraq. When we let Bin Laden go in Tora Bora. When we sanctioned torture and private prisons and ditched the Geneva Conventions.
I say 'we' because these things were done in our name as Americans. Those of us who see the true immorality of this "war" are horrified at having been represented as such to the global community. We are amazed that so many of the troops and the American public still believe that Saddam Hussein had something to do with 9/11. Not amazed that Dick Cheney and BushCo sold that connection so heavily (with the complicity of the MSM) but astonished that there are still people out there who buy into that falsehood. It seems that blind faith wreaks havoc on the ability to see tangible reason and reality. So let me put it into a blunter statement: IF YOU BELIEVE SADDAM HUSSEIN HAD ANYTHING TO DO WITH 9/11 YOU ARE WRONG.
It's OK being wrong as long as you admit it and move forward to the current reality, which is: if we are not in Iraq to avenge 9/11, then why are we there? There are a host of reasons, none of them good. If it's Al Qaida that we are really concerned about, we should have remained in Afghanistan and thoroughly covered the Pakistani border around Waziristan . Heck, we could have helped keep the now-resurgent Taliban from regrouping and perhaps kept the largest poppy crop ever grown from being used to make opium and heroin. Once we admit we have no good reason left to be in Iraq (or no good reason to have invaded in the first place) then we wind up at a turning point (or perhaps one of those corners that Bush used to talk about us turning). And that point really has only one direction: bringing our troops home and out of harms way. Ending the occupation of Iraq. Not ending the war, because there is none. Not surrendering because there is no one to surrender to. And not being defeated because you can't lose a war that doesn't exist. And since we have lost so much in terms of human sacrifice, military preparedness, credibility, respect and trust of the world, we only stand to lose more. One thing is for sure: we cannot win, not even the "hearts and minds of the Iraqi people," especially the families of those tens of thousands killed as "collateral damage." We cannot lose what we have already lost and we surely cannot win when there is no definition of "winning". Or "success" for that matter.
As bad as Bushco has been in policy and action, they are only to blame to a certain point. Step back to 2004 when we as a country had a chance to show the world that it was Bushco and NOT the American people that they should hold responsible for this foreign policy debacle. The moral values/Red State voters showed the world that roughly half of the US supported Bush and his policies. And in a government of, by and for the people, they are ultimately to blame for this truly immoral situation. Those of you who still proudly display Bush/Cheney stickers on your vehicles, who believe that we are on some sort of righteous (i.e. religious) crusade against evil in the world -- it is YOU who should be truly held accountable. It was YOU who ignored all the damning evidence that we went to war on false pretenses. It was YOU who refused to get your news from sources other than the completely unfair and unbalanced FOX, YOU who chose to believe that those who dissented were unpatriotic, YOU who waved the flag and called yourselves true Americans as our values, freedoms and true moral strengths crumbled around us. If you were one of the people who voted for Bush in 2004, then it is YOU who helped birth this horrible legacy that will affect future generations for years to come. The lies, the deceit, the criminal chicanery that have devastated our country was given credibility with your vote. Your false sense of pride and patriotism have turned into a hollow sentiment that you pridefully wave as a banner of honor. You can't scream "We are the greatest!" when our actions speak otherwise.
If you think that your "moral values" vote for Bush will get you a ticket to heaven, think again. Though it is sad how you have been so willingly duped and manipulated, it is ultimately the destiny that you have wrought simple by voting your approval for this road to ruin. We who tried to stop you, we who spoke out against the lies and hypocrisy and were called "unpatriotic" can only bow our heads in shame for you and for what you've brought upon this beautiful country of ours. You who put yellow ribbons on the back of your gas-guzzling SUV's and scream "Support the Troops" while voting for a man who put them unnecessarily in harms way without the equipment or manpower (or post-invasion plan!) they needed to do the job. You are hypocrites, you are traitors and your boastful patriotism and nationalism sound ever emptier and crass. Isaac Asimov once said "Never let your sense of morals get in the way of doing what's right." It is time to re-examine what you believe to be "moral values" so you can do what is right by helping to end the occupation -- not war-- of Iraq and bringing the troops home to their families and communities. If you choose to still believe that our cause in the Middle East is moral or just, part of "God's plan" in a great Christian-Muslim battle over good and evil, and that Saddam Hussein perpetrated 9/11, then you are willingly and willfully ignorant of the travesty we have wrought in Iraq and should be held as accountable as the administration for our current state of affairs.
John McCain says he will follow Bin Laden "to the gates of hell." How much do you wanna bet he sees a lot more familiar faces there?
Robbie Gennet 2007