May 1, 2003 will forever go down in history as one of the most craven moments of political theater in American history, a horrendously detached and cynically staged event that showed little concern for reality. In other words, the events aboard the U.S.S Abraham Lincoln that day pretty much encapsulate the Bush administration as a whole. Without regard for what the word actually meant, George W. Bush that day declared victory. Now, four years later, after 3,211 have died since the “end of major combat operations in Iraq,” Bush and his lemmings in the Republican Party attempt to lecture the American people about the costs of failure. The people who have been wrong about everything now make predictions about the disaster that has already occurred in Iraq.
Something to keep in mind as the Democrats send the Iraq War bill to President Bush’s desk today, specifically timed for his veto on May 1, 2007. Four years to the day after he played dress-up and pretended the war was over.
Now, the doomsday scenarios are of a failed state, a haven for terrorists, where they can easily stage attacks on Americans. A civil war with massive deaths between the warring factions of Sunni and Shia. A loss of American prestige at home and abroad. I’ve got news for you: those things have already happened.
The Iraqi state has failed. There’s no denying that at this point. It cannot exist without the backing of the United States military. Because of this, it’s seen as a puppet regime, illegitimate and carrying out the United States’ interests. This is the major reason why, although a vast majority of Iraqis want the United States out of Iraq, the Iraqi government insists on our presence there. If we leave, the government will fall. If we stay, the government will be seen as completely illegitimate. No one can look at the news each day and conclude that Iraq has not become a haven for terrorists. That’s what happens when you create a power vacuum and disenfranchise half of the population. You can’t change that now. The only thing you can do is get your people out of there so they don’t get killed.
Which brings me to the most absolutely ludicrous and ridiculous bullshit line that the right wing has spread about this war the last couple of years. I’m sure you know the one I’m talking about: We’re fighting them over there so we don’t have to fight them over here. Or any similar line of reason. My favorite has to be the absolutely childish: If we leave Iraq, they will follow us home. Evidently, al-Qaeda has a navy I was not aware of, or an army of amphibious soldiers who can swim across the Atlantic.
The point should be painfully obvious to anyone with half an ounce of reason in their body: they already know where we are! It’s not as if our war in Iraq is somehow deterring them from coming over here, it’s just providing them with an easy target to kill Americans, every day. Consider the tragedy that happened at Virginia Tech two weeks ago. Now consider that on that Monday, over 150 people died in a series of attacks in Iraq. As sad as it is to say, 33 dead is a good day in Baghdad. And our soldiers are in the middle of it.
As the last six years have so tragically demonstrated, this administration has not the slightest CLUE how to run an effective intelligence organization. From ignoring the warning signs of 9/11, to falsifying intelligence about Iraq, to ignoring accurate intelligence that conflicted with their own view of reality, the Bush administration has caused decades worth of damage to our national image. And now we are supposed to trust their view, which says a military solution to an endless war against an unclear enemy is not only the only option, but refusing to go along with that option will result in catastrophic failure. The only catastrophic failure in this conversation is the administration’s Iraq policy. If that was your goal, Mr. President, to create a colossal fuck-up that makes Vietnam look well-reasoned by comparison, well - Mission Accomplished.
Update: by john. Mission Accomplished By The Numbers, via ThinkProgress.
