'War Love' Part I

When will humanity realize that a war is never won?\nAs if we are missing pages from our American history books, a significant portion of the U.S. Congress and the Bush Administration believe "victory" is within reach in Iraq. Just look at the recent formation of a "new" Iraqi government, and the video-game-esque assassination of that one guy named Abu-something or another.\nProgress in Iraq is spelled "d-e-m-o-c-r-a-z-y," after all -- and America has only 19,999 insurgents left to "capture" (i.e. murder) before more are bred, considering no terrorists were in Iraq before we invaded and occupied their country. Other sign posts of freedom's light in the modern day human-meat grinder of Baghdad include: U.S. soldiers only kill an average of one Iraqi civilian per day, only about one ordinary Iraqi is kidnapped per day, only about two U.S. soldiers are killed per day, only about three insurgent attacks occur per day and only about 50 ordinary Iraqis are murdered by their neighbors each day in what is, still, not considered a civil war by many Western \nobservers.\nIn the case of the Iraq War, it seems that the price of American aggression has further destabilized the Middle East; transformed the once-brutal, Saddam-controlled Iraqi streets into an international training ground for terrorists; ruined the once-proud American image as a beacon of liberty and justice; cost the American taxpayers billions of dollars better used for social spending and continues the stripping of the freedoms our forefathers fought a revolution to preserve.\nNone of that mentions the expense of human capital in the form of murdered, maimed and mutilated American and Iraqi human life. All that at the expense of combating al-Qaeda around the world, including its newest stronghold in Somalia, and its resurgence in \nAfghanistan. \nNo nation can ever "win" a war because the cost of war in human life and environmental degradation is too great. We also continue to disgrace the very idea of democracy if we persist in believing that honoring the will of the Iraq people means teaching them that democracy is only achieved by the barrel of a gun, and that violence is the only recourse to peace. \n"What about America's building of Iraqi schools, hospitals and other key infrastructure, like electrical grids" you ask? I say we are only breaking even from the damage caused by the flexing of our military might. \nRegardless of what the so-called "new era" in Iraq brings forth, death and destruction are all the Iraqi people will ever know -- so long as America continues to lead the world by rebuilding a nation we have destroyed. Might America realize that the Iraqis can only stand up when America stands down, and not the other way around?\nThe discussion of "War Love" continues at www.idsnews.com.