A Story Already Told

Iraq.

This is obligatory, but in many ways it needs to be said; as there is information that seems to be getting left out. It seems that just about everybody is aware that the Iraq Parliament building was attacked by suicide bombers (though, they did 'miss'), right as the President of the United Nations was speaking with PM Al-Maliki (who famously didn't even flinch as the bomb went off; and what does that say about the state of affairs in Iraq?)

So what, precisely, is going on down there? I'll preface this with a few links; they should all be at least skimmed, to ensure that the actual argument I'm making here is understood in its proper context:

The People of Iraq Really Want Us There; Honest.
The Troop Surge is Definitely Improving Things; No, Really!
The Al-Qaeda Presence In Iraq Isn't Trying to Just Bleed Us Dry:
-- After All; Where Would They Get That Idea?
We're Busily Reconstructing Iraq:
-- And We're Definitely Good At That.

There. So where is all of this going? There's a few arguments I've heard over and over again regarding the US presence in Iraq. The most common being; "If we don't fight them there, then we'll fight them here." My answer to that is just two words (well, a word and an acronym): "Afghanistan. USSR." There are many scholars of history who make the argument -- very soundly, with little controversy -- that the USSR's presence in Afghanistan lead to the collapse of their state. So now, the same EXACT tactics are being used against the USA. And the President's words about "setting timetables will embolden the enemy" only gives them all the more reason to keep things going. After all; they know that we're being stupid enough to keep giving them targets. Maybe, if we pulled out of Iraq & Afghanistan, they might just actually have to work to do us harm, again.

It's just the simple truth: We're being bled dry out there. And "They" know it. (The 'evildoers'.) Their plan is working. They have no reason to stop and never will. Nothing short of black-glassing the entire Middle East will stop them. And the USA cannot survive genocide. But I digress.

We're now stepping up the presence of reconstruction teams in Iraq. And nominally, this is a good thing. Definitely their economy is badly hurting, and if we could get that vital and running, just maybe the 'moderates' would have enough economic & political clout that they could shirk off the yoke of fundamentalism. (I could make the same wish of this country.)

A little known fact about the reconstruction efforts in the wake of Katrina: Wal-Mart did a better job than the feds; and they were quicker too. Yet we're still trusting Halliburton to handle the reconstruction in Iraq? WHY? Maybe if instead of fighting insurgents who either want to A) Kill each other off and will find ways regardless of us, or B) Just want to kill US soldiers and will vanish once we're gone, we used military presence (private mercenaries tend to work for cheaper than US military) to escort privately owned & operated (using the lesson of Wal-Mart) 'reconstruction' teams, we might just have had Iraq up and on its feet already.

But that's just a side-bar. If you love America, and want to see her citizens safe, don't let the Al-Qaeda-like groups of the world do to us what they did to the USSR. Get Us Out.

Iraq is not the new Vietnam. It is the new Afghanistan. And the USA is playing the role of Communist Russia.