PD, I don’t think it’s so simple. What you’re seeing in Iraq is an example of how fragile societies really are. It is probably true that 95% of the Iraqis, maybe even more are ordinary people that just want to work, earn money, and raise their families in peace. The problem is that the remaining 5% or so can cause a LOT of trouble. It doesn’t take many people to plant an IED or shoot at our soldiers, and when we return fire, they just run into apartment buildings. The Iraqi families there can’t do anything because these guys will just as soon shoot them, too. And if you’re on patrol and you start taking fire from a building, you’ve got to return it and believe it, our guys are. If we’ve lost 3000 guys and injured no telling how many more, trust me, there are a lot of dead and f***ed-up Iraqis out there. The US has the best military in the world bar none and I’d bet money that we’re taking out 10 of them for every one of ours. I’d like to see how many 500 and 2000-pounders we’ve dropped over there; I’m sure it’s a lot, I know they’re running a lot of sorties.
That argument about the liberal media losing the war for us is the same tired old chestnut my Dad endlessly repeated about Vietnam while he watched old John Wayne movies on TV, beer in hand. Of course, he got married and had kids to avoid serving. I should be thankful I guess, ’cause otherwise I wouldn’t even be here!
The lesson we should learn from Iraq and Vietnam is that one-party governments are bad things that should be avoided. The democrats gave us an unwinnable war and massive entitlement programs for the poor in the 60s. The republicans have given us another unwinnable war and massive entitlement programs for the rich in the 00s. We’d be better off in a good old-fashioned gridlock situation in Washington where they’re all busy investigating each other for BJs and misuse of government funds. I’m still convinced that’s why the country did so well after the repubs got control of the congress in 1994…
