A failure of democracy.

The problem with war in Iraq, surge or no surge, is that no one seems to know when we can say we "won." Winning is important to cowboys. And cowboys won when all the Indians were dead. No matter how many times I examine the question of winning, I can't figure out what it would mean to win.

It is clear that the preznut equates any withdrawal of troops as failure. And failure "would be a disaster for the U.S." according to him. So winning will not be a disaster. 500 billion, oh lets go ahead and say it, half a trillion dollars, blown up. More than 3000 dead American soldiers, 30,000 severely wounded, and 600,000 dead Iraqis. That is NOT a disaster already according to the preznut?

Do you know what I like the best about what he is saying now? It's the disaster senarios. U.S. withdrawal will result in all these horrible things: Saudi Arabia will intervene for the Sunnis, Iran will swoop in to support the Shia, terrorists will have free reign to recruit and train and will begin attacking America, Turky will declare war on the Kurds in Northern Iraq. Since the administration also predicted 1. weapons of mass destruction, 2. greeted as liberators, 3. Iraq is a secular state, 4. the Iraqis can finance their own rebuilding, 5. the war will cost about 8 billion, 6. there is no insurgency, 7. the insurgency is in its last throes, 8. there will not be a civil war, 9. yada yada yada X 100. Does anyone remember the justification for the Viet Nam war? If South Viet Nam falls to communism, all southeast Asia will fall to communism.

When we left Viet Nam, those people took care of themselves. We lost face, not for leaving, but for ever having gone. The preznut was recently back there visiting, making nice and wearing funny clothes. The loss for America will not be withdrawing, which is inevitable sooner or later. The loss is that we ever allowed it to happen. It is a failure of democracy.

Meanwhile Osama has his feet up and is still smiling in Afghanistan.