Question 1: is the war winnable?

What a silly question. Weren’t you paying attention to George Bush on May 1, 2003? Mission Accomplished!

At this point I’d say it’s completely unwinable from any point of view. The absurdist view that our government had in 2003 prior to the invasion was completely unrealistic from the start. It’s one thing to believe that Iraqi’s would welcome us as liberators. That’s only mildly absurd. But to believe that we can go in, impose a stable democratic government, and leave is almost criminal.

Democracy has to be wanted, and it has to be earned largley through blood. Did we take the time to understand who the Iraqi’s are? Did the administration consider the impact that a Muslim culture would have on the ability to Democritize a population? Did the administration consider the complex interactions of all the ethinc groups that comprise Iraq?

Now, we need to ask ourselves if our presence in Iraq is accomplishing anything? Maybe it is. Maybe our presence there is preventing, or at least delaying, the degeneration of Iraq into violent anarchy. Is this what our soldiers are dying for? Is this worth our soldiers dying for?

I think the administration has many things to answer for regarding its prosecution of this war. The role of contractors in military roles leaves a very bad taste in my mouth. The administration is using a war as a vehicle for the Vice Presidents old company to generate revenue. The lack of sufficient troops, and poorly supplying the troops stationed in Iraq is another thing that the Bush administration has botched. These so called patriots in office say all the right things, and then treat the military with an offhanded disregard that to me is about as far from patriotic as one can get.

“Mission Accomplished” in the spring of 2003? It’s 4 years later, troops are still dying, suicide bombers are still slaughering civilians. And the terrorists have started to use chemical weapons in Iraq, blowing up trucks full of Chlorine.

But I’m just an engineer. I didn’t major in politics or history. I don’t have the broad knowledge of those areas that Smallholder and MaxLeader do. I am, however, a pissed off engineer, a voter, and someone who loves my country.

This administration didn’t take Bin Laden and Al Quaeda seriously as a threat until after 9/11 despite considerable inteligence to the contrary. For a few brief days in September of 2001, the president actually looked like a leader, but that faded quickly. We appropriately took out the Taliban, and then gave up aggressively chasing the perpretrators of 9/11 so that Bush/Cheney et al. could prosecute their vision of the Middle East. A vision routed in profound naivete and hubris. If one had the audacity to express an opinion contrary to the party line, well then you were slandered as unpatriotic, or maybe they’d let Ann Coulter out of her cage to call you a Faggot.

To quote Daniel J. Boorstein “The great obstacle to discovery is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.” What’s scary is that the administration actually thinks it knows what it’s doing.

Worst president ever? At least the worst in my lifetime in my humble opinion.