US Death Toll Hits 4,000 in Iraq-Nam

As President George “LBJ” Bush’s war in Iraq-Nam entered its sixth year, the 4,000th uniformed American has died there. Four soldiers were killed late Sunday when a bomb took out their vehicle. The president expressed his sadness, a sadness this journal shares with him. It shares very little else with him on the Mess in Mesopotamia.

Mr. Bush is very sure of himself and his policy. He stated, “One day people will look back at this moment in history and say ‘thank God there were courageous people willing to serve’ because they laid the foundation for peace for generations to come.” Those who serve, however, deserve better than to be sent into a pointless and illegal war without adequate equipment. And those who serve shouldn’t be forced to continue to serve because they have received “stop-loss” orders. And those who serve shouldn’t have to do three or four tours in either Iraq-Nam or Afghanistan.

The war Mr. Bush launched just over 5 years ago has lasted longer than America’s involvement in World War II. It has cost the country just about as much. While getting rid of Saddam Hussein cannot be counted as anything but good, the poor planning and worse execution for the post-war period can’t be counted as good either.

The latest strategic move, an escalation labeled a “surge,” has brought down some of the violence in the country. However, the Madhi Army of Sayyid Moqtada al-Sadr had declared a unilateral ceasefire back in August which had more to do with falling violence than anything the Americans di4:30 PM 3/25/2008d. The Green Zone government of Nouri al-Maliki hasn’t achieved very much in the way of political reconciliation. Indeed, reports yesterday from Basra say that his troops are moving against the Madhi Army. That will end the ceasefire pretty quickly.

In a statement yesterday, a Sadrist official, Hazam al-Aaraji, read a statement from his faction’s leader, “We demand that religious and political leaders intervene to stop the attacks on poor people. We call on all Iraqis to launch protests across all the provinces. If the government does not respect these demands, the second step will be general civil disobedience in Baghdad and the Iraqi provinces.” After that, what’s left but formally admitting that there is a civil war in Iraq-Nam?

So, the 4,000th American patriot has died, and just like the 3,000th, and the 2000th, and the 1,000th, that man doesn’t seem to be the last in the line. Indeed, he might not even have been in the middle of the line. America is doing no good in Iraq-Nam save propping up a pro-Iranian government, which is only good for the Iranians. It is wasting money and materiel. And above all, it is getting its troops killed with no end in sight. Throwing more men and women into the mess only serves to make live Americans into dead Americans. That doesn’t seem to be very patriotic.

© Copyright 2008 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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