With the Petraeus/Bush/DOD report on the surge filling all the news networks, both sides of the Iraq issue have claimed victory.
Supporters point to evidence that the surge is working. They note a significant drop in violence in the Anbar Province that points to the influx of troops has had a positive effect.
Opponents use the same data to point out that the surge was directed at the Baghdad area, and the drop in violence in the Anbar Province is due to a deal we've made with former batheists to take control of the areas they held, and had been fighting to re-gain control of since we invaded in 2003.
Truth is they're both right. The surge has worked, militarily, though not as well as Pro-war pundits want you to believe. Our military is the greatest force the planet has ever seen, and more of them means better results. This is why I thought we needed 1/2 a million troops to begin with.
The surge did focus mainly on Baghdad. The Anbar province has been bought and paid for (by our tax dollars by the way) and like the Batheists did in the 1980s, Sunni strongmen have used our money to quell resistance, and beat down what Al Qaeda-friendly groups were ever there to begin with.
I still think that invading Iraq was the worst decision a President has made since Reagan paid for the release of Iranian-held hostages (what a bad precedent to set), but once the President and Congress made the decision to start the invasion, I held my tongue, supported the troops, and hoped for the best.
Both sides have their positions, and they expect you to conform. No middle ground, middle ground makes people like Ron Paul, Dennis Kucinich and other 2nd tier candidates arguments more valid.
May I remind you that we won the war a long time ago. Remember, we successfully overthrew the Batheist government, our stated goal......... Then we stayed. We should have left when we won.
Now it doesn't matter. We could leave tomorrow, or stay for 100 years, the damage has been done. We've alienated the world, weakened any bargaining position we had with most countries we need to deal with (Iran may get a bomb soon, but North Korea already has one that can hit North America).
Win or loose in Iraq, we've got a military that's strained (by almost all accounts), and like it or not, the military stands between us and danger on a daily basis, and not just in Iraq.
So think what you want about the war. Believe President Bush or the Democratic Congress at your own peril. They've both lied to us before, and I hear there's a saying in Texas about getting fooled twice.
Will we be fooled again?
