Monday, January 01, 2007

3,000th U.S. Soldier Killed As 2006 Ends


Photo taken byMaster Sgt. Jim Varhegyi of the United States Air Force

2006 ended on a sad note, as the 3,000th American soldier was killed in the Iraq war. I wish I could say that the end was near in this war -- that things were getting better, and our troops would soon be coming home. But that is not the case.

In fact, I expect that Bush will soon announce that he is sending even more of our brave soldiers to Iraq. It makes me wonder if Bush understands what is going on over there. He is still talking as though he thought what is going on in Iraq had something to do with international terrorism
.


Iraq was never a haven for terrorists before our ill-conceived invasion and occupation of the country. I do believe that for a short time after the invasion, foreign terrorist fighters did come to the aid of Iraqi insurgents, but even that is past history now.

The fighting in Iraq no longer has anything to do with the "war on terrorism". It is now a civil war between the Sunnis and the Shiites. Both sides hate the United States and attack our soldiers.

I assume our soldiers are there to prop up the puppet government we have installed in Iraq. Don't try and tell me that it was a democratically-elected government. A democracy doesn't have to have it's candidates approved by an occupying power. This is nothing more than a puppet government which will cease to exist the minutes U.S. troops leave, and supporting it is simply an exercise in futility and not worth the life of a single American.

Bush is embarrassed at having started this civil war, and wants to fix it before leaving, but this cannot happen. The Iraqis must determine their own future. It will be bloody because civil wars always are, but there is nothing we can do to prevent that since the warring factions each have outside backers -- Saudi Arabia backs the Sunnis and Iran backs the Shiites.

Our troops cannot determine Iraq's future, and they cannot save face for Bush. It is time to bring them home!

2 comments:

  1. "Iraq was never a haven for terrorists before our ill-conceived invasion and occupation of the country."

    Wrong

    I just thught I would correct you on your facts there.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Exactly what group of terrorists was Saddam supporting?
    Everyone knew he and Osama were enemies [except Bush].
    Saddam was a bloodthirsty dictator, but he was a SECULAR one. He never supported the Islamic terrorists because he feared they would contribute to his overthrow.
    Bush did the Islamic terrorists a favor by getting rid of Saddam.

    ReplyDelete

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