Iraq has gone all to hell. In the absence of a US military presence, the Sunni/Shia civil war that has ravaged the country for centuries, resumes anew. Al Qaeda and Taliban insurgents fuel the unrest and bloodshed. Fallujah, site of America’s bloodiest victory, is now in the hands of her enemies.
The Neo-Cons blame the president. They say the violence would not have erupted had the president stayed the course. 10-20,000 troops in country for the foreseeable future would solve the problem. Their appetite for war is ravenous. A war weary populace, mounting debt and an overly extended military establishment are not their concern.
John McCain leads the charge. McCain has never met a war that he didn’t want to wage. He takes to the senate floor and addresses president’s decision to withdraw and the hard earned victories now lost to history. “What do we say to the families whose loved one’s paid the ultimate price? How do we tell them that their sons and daughters did not die in vain?”
Perhaps we might start with the truth.
“We are sorry for your loss. In the immediate aftermath of 9/11 the country was first shocked, then devastated and then angry…very, very angry. We had to respond. We had to exact some type of revenge. The intelligence was confusing. We heard what we wanted to hear…believed what we wanted to believe. We sent your loved one into an unnecessary war that was based on what we had convinced ourselves was a just cause. In fact it was a lie. We were so hell bent to do “something” that we set in place a series of events that cost thousands of lives and destroyed tens of thousands of families. Words cannot express the depth of our sorry for the loss that our reckless behavior has caused you and your family. We can only offer you the appreciation of a grateful nation for your loved ones service; and the promise that we will never again send another son or daughter, father or mother, friend or confidant into harms’ way without just cause.”
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