Suppose You Started a War and Screwed Everything Up

One of the things that gets me about the Iraq war is that the reason justifying us being over there is ever changing. The one reason that bothers me the most is this one: "If we leave now, then all the soldiers who have died would have died in vain." Following this line of reasoning, we can never leave Iraq. Because unless things are "just so," then soldiers would have died in vain. Following this line of reasoning, Napoleon should still be invading Russia. Because, otherwise, his soldiers have died in vain.

If you are down to using this excuse, that says to me, "Hey, all our other excuses aren't working. Let's trot out ol' reliable." President Lyndon B. Johnson, aka my least favorite president ever, used this excuse during Vietnam. The thing with this excuse is that it does not make sense. It don't work. That dog don't hunt, my friends. If we are down to using this excuse, we are all but admitting that our soldiers are dying in vain. If this is our reason for fighting in Iraq, why did we start fighting in the first place? There was a time when not one soldier had died.

The subtext of all this is that President George W. Bush wants to push this war until January 2009. Whatever happens after that can be blamed on the next guy. Or gal. He thinks this whole "kicking the can down the road" routine will salvage his legacy. Wrong, friendo. We all know this is President Bush's War. It is no one else's.

You're so vain, Mr. President. If you think this post is about you, you'd be right.