March 18, 2008
A big story slips in under cover of darkness, (just like our leaders)
In case you haven’t heard much about it lately, that Iraq War thing is still churning away on the other side of the globe. It’s kind of settled into the status quo of an eternal war and the media’s grown bored. It seems they’d rather tell us about the sex lives of politicians and their shameful shameful connections and employees than the conflict that’s claimed more than 4,000 American lives along with a far greater number of Iraqis.
Still, it is anniversary time and the fifth is a big one, so Iraq is once again a hot place to visit for war loving political peoples like Vice President Dick Cheney, Republican Presidential Nominee John McCain and the amazingly disingenuous Joe Lieberman. They all slipped on into the battle zone under cover of darkness to tour things with a garrison to guard them and declare things like, “If you look back on those five years it has been a difficult, challenging but nonetheless successful endeavor … and it has been well worth the effort.” (Cheney)
Now McCain recently showed his ignorance of the complex situation with a classic Sunni/Shiite jumble, but that’s really no the point here. Cheney is the one who said this would be easy, pay for itself and was in its last throes a few years back. Where sir, is there a success, and what exactly is making the effort worthwhile.
Of course much like our other war in Afghanistan, the media is so over Iraq and they have much more fun and less tragically repetitive narratives to deliver. That might be why they missed one of the biggest stories on the status of things in Iraq and our standing in the region. The only non-blog place talking about this was The Daily Show.
You see a few weeks ahead of our political warriors brave covert operations where they made unannounced appearances for photo ops among the troops, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made his own historic visit. Of course his visit was announced and much more like a state visit than a dangerous top-secret mission. He came and went from the airport in a car and while under heavy security as most presidents, Ahmadinejad’s movements were not restricted or under constant threat.
The differences between the two visits clearly show the one thing we’ve gained in abundance from this war is enemies.
So, Mr. Vice President, is five years, untold billions in cash and thousands of lives worth it to have your little super spy adventure visit? Besides all that what have we gotten from your deceitful campaign? Our nation is less safe, less liked and less powerful than before. It’s hard to tell if you’re more dishonest or more incompetent, but whatever combination you’re sporting, it’s sure deadly.