I Did Not Think I Would Hear This!

"It's time to bring them home," said Rep. John Murtha.
Congressman Murtha is entirely correct - but I never expected to hear it from someone who has to face an election! In fact, the Bush administration's recent pugilistic attack rhetoric has been pretty much based on the assumption that no prominent politician would be willing to speak the truth that dare not speak its... Well, that's not really a good simile but...
"We have to stay the course..." "We can't abandon our friends..." "If we leave Iraq now, it will descend into a state of civil war..."
Guess what? Iraq is right now in a state of civil war. And so it will remain as long as we are there to prevent it running its course. If we stay six months, if we stay six years, if we stay decades, or - if we leave right now; the only difference is the time at which the immiscible factions in Iraq will be forced to settle their grudges - in whatever way they are going to do. When we leave, of course, though the Iraqis will begin to kill each other in grater numbers, we will no longer be killing Iraqis (and they will no longer be killing us), so the death rate may actually go down. However, it is pretty obvious that Iraq is not going to be that Prosperous Middle East Democracy (and U.S. puppet) so dearly wished for by George W. Bush and his coterie. It never was going to be. It never was going to be. Now, without deposed strongman and brutal thug dictator Saddam Hussein, Iraq is bound for a period of chaos and civil strife, until a new strongman takes charge. We can hope the next one will be more statesman than murderer; more philosopher king than opressive autocrat. We however, lack the power to determine this outcome. We always did. It was always just the pipe-dream of a petulant self obsessed accidental Commander-In-Chief, whom even the most ardent United-States-As-The-Only-Superpower-We-Must-Police-The-World advocates are now seeing is not up to the job.

More John Murtha: "Our troops have become the primary target of the insurgency. They are united against U.S. forces and we have become a catalyst for violence," he said. "The war in Iraq is not going as advertised. It is a flawed policy wrapped in illusion."

Amen, John Murtha. And thank you.