"We are winning"

Last night, President Bush gave one of the best speeches in defense of the Iraq war in the history of his Administration. His words were inspiring, strong and brave.

Too bad none of it will change the deteriorating situation in Iraq.

Obviously, I'm not a smart man but you don't have to be a genius to figure out that things aren't going well. In fact, despite talks of elections, freedom, liberation, purple fingers (ewwww) and sweet, sweet oil revenue there is only one statistic that counts when it comes to talking about the war in Iraq: The body count of American soldiers.

See, as much as people like Christopher Hitchens want to talk about the moral imperative of fighting a war against Islamo-fascism in the end it just seems to be the never ending story of white people coming to kill brown people and then telling them how to live. Now this sometimes works, but most of the time it's a doomed effort because nowadays there are too many cameras around to get in the way of the hardcore murder, slavery and genocide that was required to build this nation's empire. Secondly, Hitchens and other defenders of this war are wrong if they think that anybody really gives a fuck about the lives, liberty or well being of the Iraqi people. Nobody, not even filthy hippie anti-war activists, gives a shit about the Iraqis for any other reason but political capital. We've been killing Iraqi babies through sanctions and bombing since the days of Clinton and that news doesn't even rate higher than the various incarnations of the South Beach Diet.

What keeps this war rolling is fear, telling everybody that the war in Iraq keeps the fight against terrorists overseas rather than on American soil is a smart tactic but I'm not sure that it's true. I was fighting Iraqis for good parking spaces and library books at UMKC in the late 90's. If a few radical right wing fanatics weren't so busy trying to kick all of the Mexicans out of the country, they might see that the war in Iraq hasn't shut down a single convenience store, cell phone kiosk or other breeding grounds for terrorism. Instead, they fight a war against an army of Mexicans armed with leaf blowers who bring the wrath of low prices, good food and hot Latina poon.

And as far as the Iraqis and their own self-determination, if you think that Iraqi army, their faux democracy or anybody in that entire nation wouldn't jump ship, sell out or surrender if the U.S. wasn't there to back them up . . . then your depth of understanding of politics and warfare does not surpass Rambo: First Blood II.

More and more, the occupation of Iraq is starting to look like Vietnam. There just isn't a good way to get out of this thing. I agree that withdrawal will make the U.S. (you people) look horrible in the eyes of the world but soon enough the number of dead American soldiers will make everyone forget about saving face. And once again, we'll be faced with the hard lessons that humanity never seems to learn: That war isn't noble, it's just organized murder. That people have a right to self-determination even if their culture is stupid and oppressive. And that just because it looks and sounds good on TV doesn't mean it's true.