If Iraq really IS "a battle for the future of civilization" or "the decisive ideological struggle of the 21st century," as Dick Cheney and George W. Bush breathlessly inform us, then all I can say is that we are TOTALLY screwed! Why? Because we're getting our butts kicked over there, and this is the Pentagon's own assessment, not mine. According to the latest report for Congress issued by Don Rumsfeld's own Defense Department:
Attacks and civilian deaths in Iraq have risen sharply in recent months, with casualties increasing by 1,000 a month, and sectarian violence has engulfed larger areas of the country.
In addition, the report concludes that "conditions that could lead to civil war [in Iraq] exist," while an Assistant Secretary of Defense says that "the sectarian quality of the violence is particularly acute and disturbing."
In other words, if this were the equivalent of the Cold War, we would be on the verge of losing Eastern Europe, South Korea, South Vietnam, and chunks of the Middle East to the Soviet Union. And if this were a World War II analogy, then occupied Germany and Japan would be spiraling out of control, with violence spreading throughout Europe and Asia. In both cases, the very forces we were fighting, primarily Soviet and Maoist Communism, would be gaining fast. And the McCarthy-ite Republicans would be screaming, "who lost Europe and Asia to the Commies?" The answer, of course, would be their own party and their own leadership.
Today, in the current "war on terror," who is benefiting from the Mess O' Potamia? Again, it's the main force we are purportedly fighting, which the Administration tells us is something called "Islamo-fascism," that's gaining fast. Even the Bush Pentagon essentially admits it, while independent analysts like Tony Cordesman of CSIS says "You could make the case for optimism in the past; you cannot now." Great.
So, what I'd like to hear now from all the apologists ("appeasers?") of this Administration's incompetence - George Allen, for starters - is this: how is the war in Iraq helping us defeat "Islamo-fascism" in Iran and throughout the Muslim world? And how is this disaster not HURTING our interests around the world, DECREASING our security, and INCREASING the level of anti-US animosity worldwide? Meanwhile, how is all this helping prevent Iran and North Korea, which Bush (in)famously defined as two spokes in an "Axis of Evil," from building nuclear weapons? And how is ANY of this making our "homeland" a better, safer, more prosperous place to live?
I'm waiting. (cue Jeopardy music)