Winning in Iraq

Many thanks to The Psychotic Patriot's James Raven for this link to Sunday's Baghdad Burning post. Riverbend writes:

I'm more than a little worried. This is Bush's final card. The elections came and went and a group of extremists and thieves were put into power (no, no - I meant in Baghdad, not Washington). The constitution which seems to have drowned in the river of Iraqi blood since its elections has been forgotten. It is only dug up when one of the Puppets wants to break apart the country. Reconstruction is an aspiration from another lifetime: I swear we no longer want buildings and bridges, security and an undivided Iraq are more than enough. Things must be deteriorating beyond imagination if Bush needs to use the 'Execute the Dictator' card.

Iraq has not been this bad in decades. The occupation is a failure. The various pro-American, pro-Iranian Iraqi governments are failures. The new Iraqi army is a deadly joke. Is it really time to turn Saddam into a martyr? Things are so bad that even pro-occupation Iraqis are going back on their initial 'WE LOVE AMERICA' frenzy...

It's not about the man - presidents come and go, governments come and go. It's the frustration of feeling like the whole country and every single Iraqi inside and outside of Iraq is at the mercy of American politics. It is the rage of feeling like a mere chess piece to be moved back and forth at will. It is the aggravation of having a government so blind and uncaring about their people's needs that they don't even feel like it's necessary to go through the motions or put up an act. And it's the deaths. The thousands of dead and dying, with Bush sitting there smirking and lying about progress and winning in a country where every single Iraqi outside of the Green Zone is losing.

While you're at it, take a few minutes and read more of this incredible blog. Just pick a date from the archives at random, and take a long hard look at what our Dear Leader and his fawning Congressional acolytes have done in the name of avenging 9/11. Or containing WMD. Or liberating the Iraqi people. Or spreadin' democracy 'n' freedom. Or...

Good God, America, how can we even begin to make this right? My heart is broken over what my country has come to represent under its current management team - with the full support of half of my fellow citizens.

If you're still looking for a reason to cast your vote against the architects of this fiasco, Riverbend's amazing reports should more than suffice. Still, I wonder - would even a Democratic sweep on Tuesday be enough to assuage America's collective guilt and shame?