More Troops? For What?
I confess: I didn't watch the Coward-in-Chief's speech on his "New Way Forward." I decided that more of his self-serving lies would only make me angry and think that it would have been really nice if all of the people who now see his war as a mistake had seen it before the '04 election. I thought that people were doing a good job of getting out the word on the weaknesses of the plan. And I think there have been some good analyses of his plan and his presentation. The Howard Fineman piece in which he gave Bush credit for showing all the assurance of a perp in a police lineup particularly resonated.
Bush can say that victory will look different, that there will be no signing ceremony on the deck of a battleship, and he's right. But he still believes that victory is possible. There can be no victory in a war where every "success" strengthens the enemy's resolve and numbers. There can be no victory for a third party in a war that deposed a tyrant but left the factions that he had repressed to kill each other. There can be no victory in a war that was fought against the phantasms of terrorists who sought world domination or Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. In Iraq, the only victory that was ever possible was the avoidance of defeat, and that was only possible if we didn't get into a war in the first place.
But George W. Bush and his minions, all of them cowards, wanted to prove their courage, so they started a war. That war has now claimed the lives of over three thousand Americans. God only knows how many lives, American and Iraqi alike, it has ruined. They don't seem to have noticed that the Medal of Honor, the highest decoration given by the United States armed forces, is given for valor above and beyond the call of duty--and in many, if no most cases, the recipient has given his own life to protect others.
So when Bush calls for more troops in Iraq, more people to bleed and die in the faint hope that he can claim victory, we do well to insist on an end to the insanity--and then the impeachment, trial, and conviction of all of those who led into this debacle.
Bush can say that victory will look different, that there will be no signing ceremony on the deck of a battleship, and he's right. But he still believes that victory is possible. There can be no victory in a war where every "success" strengthens the enemy's resolve and numbers. There can be no victory for a third party in a war that deposed a tyrant but left the factions that he had repressed to kill each other. There can be no victory in a war that was fought against the phantasms of terrorists who sought world domination or Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. In Iraq, the only victory that was ever possible was the avoidance of defeat, and that was only possible if we didn't get into a war in the first place.
But George W. Bush and his minions, all of them cowards, wanted to prove their courage, so they started a war. That war has now claimed the lives of over three thousand Americans. God only knows how many lives, American and Iraqi alike, it has ruined. They don't seem to have noticed that the Medal of Honor, the highest decoration given by the United States armed forces, is given for valor above and beyond the call of duty--and in many, if no most cases, the recipient has given his own life to protect others.
So when Bush calls for more troops in Iraq, more people to bleed and die in the faint hope that he can claim victory, we do well to insist on an end to the insanity--and then the impeachment, trial, and conviction of all of those who led into this debacle.
posted by amsterdr at 12:39 PM
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