BernieHund: The Political Watchdog

Basara… remember Basara?  That was the once semi-peaceful area in southern Iraq, so peaceful in fact that U.K. was withdrawing troops from the front lines.  And, Baghdad… remember Baghdad?  The capital of Iraq, our $700 million (and still counting) half completed U.S. Embassy, and the precious Green Zone.

And, do we all remember how well the surge is… was… working?  Violence was back down to the levels it was two years ago once the surge was implemented.  Then, the real surge began.  Oh, not the U.S. surge, the the al-Sadr Mahdi army surge.  Before al-Sadr’s last surge our President, Vice President, and Republican nominee, among others were cramming the success of the latest plan down our throats, gloating over the lowered numbers of American deaths. 

Emperor Bush was standing behind the podium telling us how right he was.  Dick Cheney was shaking his fist at Iran, and poor old John McCain, in flak jacket attire, stood before microphones in the Green Zone praising the success of the surge.  Thank goodness Joe Lieberman and Lindsey Graham were standing behind him to remind him whose side we were on.  But, the holy trinity from hell, gloated and spoke of victory and success.

Then, al-Sadr called upon the Madhi militia, and Basara turned into a war zone as the real surge took shape.  Nouri al-Maliki, wanting to look presidential, called out his troops and the battle was on.  Needless to say, although the words have been parsed, the Bush administration, the Pentagon and the military on the ground were all a little pissed that al-Maliki had taken control of his government’s army.  I’m sure for a couple of hours al-Maliki must have felt as if he had “arrived.”  As one should have expected, the al-Maliki mission would have been a total failure but for the Brits stepping up to fire rounds at the Madhi insurgents and the US military flying missions to bomb the area.

It was only when Iraqi government officials met with al-Sadr and an agreement was forged that it seemed that peace, as it is, would be possible again. 

I am proud of our American troops, and I am equally sad for them.  It is becoming more and more evident that the “war game” is being played by men who for all the talk don’t “think outside the box.”  Just take a look at the state of Iraq today.  We have been occupying Iraq for five years and for all our military expertise, we are getting our asses kicked by an army that doesn’t even own an airplane.  I am not faulting our troops on the ground.  I am faulting, as well as disgusted with, the old men who sit in air conditioned offices and make the decisions and the generals on the ground who are more concerned with the politics necessary to guarantee promotion before retirement than with military plans and procedures.

We should have learned something from Nam.  We faced the guerrillas then, and call them insurgents today, it is the same.  We are dressed up like redcoats in tri-cornered hats, walking the streets in an orderly fashion.  

So… now, with our surge still in place, Basara is slipping back down the road to hell and al-Sadr is calling for a million man march on Baghdad and a sit in.  They want us to leave.  Yes… they are protesting the occupiers.  Think about it.  If another country occupied us, what would do?  The same damned thing!  And, just as the Iraqi’s are going to win this battle, we would win if a foreign army tried to occupy us.  Why?  Because if someone tried to take over our country, we would not play by the rules any more than the al-Sadr militia is going to play by the rules.  We would be willing to fight and die for our country just as the Iraqi militia is fighting for what they believe is right.

It is time that someone realize that democracy is our dream for Iraq, apparently not the Iraqi dream for Iraq.  We will continue to drop bombs in Basara.  We will continue to send our troops on missions that are more dangerous than profitable.  We will continue to kill and be killed.  So much for the surge.