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By Patrick Hurley Sept. 26, 2006 Once again a President of the United States has placed us in an unwinnable war and we are left to clean up his mess by arguing, demonstrating, marching and complaining about it. What was supposed to be a quick strike of, "shock and awe" at Saddam Hussein has morphed into a protracted campaign of, "schlock and oops!" Once we paraded into Baghdad and sat there like sitting ducks as the insurgents poured in, we became Vietnam. It is not the exact same mess but as Robert Redford's character said at the end of the movie, "The Sting," it's close! Too close. I lost a lot of friends in Viet Nam. For what? So, we could give Saigon a few extra years of freedom? Once we ignominiously pulled out, (and I can STILL see that damn helicopter falling off the roof!) it was apparent that a huge mistake had been made in our effort there. At least in Iraq we got rid of Saddam Hussein. But, if the court does not find him guilty he will be back in power just like old times. Do you trust the courts over there? I don't. In the meantime, our courageous soldiers are being picked off one by one and leaving grieving families in their wake. What IS the plan to withdraw from Iraq? Uh...there is none. President Bush is leaving that up to his successor just like Lyndon Johnson did in 1968. Richard Nixon ended the war in Vietnam. It was a war he never started so he was the perfect candidate to discontinue it. The Paris Peace Accords in 1973 put a rubber stamp on North Vietnam's ability to swoop in and slaughter thousands of innocent Vietnamese citizens while we turned our back and went on with our lives. As insensitive as it seems, that is our only course in Iraq now. There is no possibility of a gracious or victorious withdrawal. We simply need to withdraw. Now. The longer we wait, the more innocent lives will be lost, especially on our side. We are not going to change hundreds of years of Iraqi culture in thirty-six months. Those tribes have been warring for centuries and they will always do battle. There will never be peace there or in the middle east. Never. So, what are we fighting for? The political answer is that we are fighting for time. Time to give the provisional government and the new army a chance to build up their power so they can fight the insurgency on their own without our help. Get real. They have as much chance of standing on their own as a blonde at the Battle of Little Big Horn. This war has been over from the moment we invaded Iraq. But, not in the way the President and his goofy set of advisors imagined it would be. Their inability to understand the Muslim mind and passion and the relentless onslaught that would emanate out of their souls to fight forever against outside forces has been well documented now. For the current administration to believe there would be no fight left in Iraq once Hussein went down was a horrific misjudgment of the culture and religion there. For us, it was a battle to win Baghdad. For them, it is an ETERNAL crusade to preserve their beliefs and their lands. One could argue that most of this war is being waged by forces outside of Iraq but what difference does that make? Did you really think we were only fighting the North Vietnamese in Southeast Asia? The bottom line here is we cannot win this war because we never sized it up correctly in the first place. We cannot even withdraw on our own terms. It is now a matter of cutting our losses and saving our troops. This is not a statement from a dove. I grew up the son of an Air Force colonel. I believe in keeping the world free from tyranny and terrorism. I just don't believe in going about it as a half-assed moron who blindly follows a President who got in over his head. We should pull out immediately. This is not a time issue. This is not a military issue. This is not a political issue. If anyone says it is, they are either misguided or lying. There will NEVER be a perfect time for a successful withdrawal because there will never be a successful withdrawal. If you get drunk and smash your car into a cafeteria killing hundreds of people and drive away there will never be a good time for you to turn yourself in and hope that the facts will change in your favor. Those people you killed will remain dead. Especially, since sevreral witnesses got your license plate and a good clear view of you. Eventually, you will pay a heavy price for what you did. The sooner you face your consequences, the better. Why put more families in pain when the payoff of freedom is not there anyway? This isn't World War I or II. This is not a fight for OUR democracy and way of life. This was a knee jerk reaction to 9/11. President Bush felt he had to do SOMETHING! Okay, he did. Now it is time for him to do something again. Withdraw. Now. ------------ About the author:   Pat Hurley has won three Emmy awards for writing, hosting and producing television shows. He resides in Southern California. Email: coolhumor@sbcglobal.net Comment on this article here! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com. Please link to this article rather than copying and pasting it onto your site (which would be unauthorized and illegal). |
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