Iraq War: Drafting the dead (D. St. Memo Alert)

[leftchick]

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/226504_bushiraqed.asp

President Bush was among the 260,000 graves at Arlington National Cemetery when he said it. But it was clear Monday that the president was referring to the more than 1,650 Americans killed to date in Iraq when he said, "We must honor them by completing the mission for which they gave their lives; by defeating the terrorists."

Bush insists on clinging to the thoroughly discredited notion that there was any connection between the old Iraqi regime -- no matter how lawless and brutal -- and the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

~snip~

Bush said of the insurgents at a news conference yesterday, "I believe the Iraqi government is plenty capable of dealing with them."

Of course, this is the same president that assured the world that military intervention in Iraq was a last resort and that the United States would make every effort to avoid war through diplomacy. Giving lie to that as well is the so-called Downing Street War Memo, which shows that as early as July 2002, "Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the Intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy."

more....

:thumbsup:

[cornermouse]

1. "I believe the Iraqi government is plenty capable of dealing with them."

Well, good. In that case, they don't need us and its time for us to get out.

[teryang]

2. What happened to "Mission Accomplished?"

When evaluating whether a mission should be continued, one measures future costs and benefits, not past losses.

One could safely anticipate among the future losses, thousands of disabled and dead, and hundreds of billions of dollars lost, with no prospect of "completing the mission." So why do we stay?