End the War, Now

Count me as another disgruntled Democrat who simply cannot understand why.

• Why haven't plans been enacted to withdraw our troops from a no win war?

• Why haven't Democratic leaders made more of an effort to stand up to a President with approval ratings in the basement?

• Why do we continue to fund a conflict that has spiraled rapidly out of control--a conflict that continues to kill our men and women in uniform?

I admit that I misspoke some months ago. I believed all of Dubya's posturing about staying the course was merely window dressing to an inevitable withdrawal. Unfortunately, I was wrong. And what is most frustrating is that the Democratic congress elected last November seems content to play politics with this conflict and has apparently taken the viewpoint that until a Democratic president is elected, they are not willing to put their necks out on the line.

Having analyzed and theorized about this issue for months, I find myself without any decent hypothesis to explain why nothing substantial has been accomplished. Bush himself made the comparison to Vietnam in a speech a few weeks back. If this conflict is anything like THAT conflict, then our troop presence in Iraq will last for several more years. The Tet Offensive in 1968 signaled to the U.S. that even with superior numbers they were fighting a foe who would fight to the last man. Yet we remained in Vietnam in great numbers for the next five years.

Part of the problem is that this country doesn't admit defeat very well. Our whole national mythology is based on the ridiculous premise that the U.S.A. will always win and that our national character is such that any problem will find a sufficient answer with enough ingenuity. This war is not like a disease in search of a cure or a mechanical issue in need of improvement. The hard truth is that no matter how much money and manpower we pump into Iraq, it will never be enough. Most Americans don't even realize the complexity of the situation that is the Middle East and our ignorance has contributed to the problems we have faced as well as created in the region.

I'm not saying anything that hasn't already been stated many times before. I've read a variety of left-wing blogs over the past several months and we all seem to be saying the same thing. Frustration and anger reigns supreme amongst the blogroots and we all get the feeling that we are being ignored and that our concerns are being given a massive dose of lip service.