Submitted by Anarcissie, Nov 14, 2006 17:27

The problem with "victory" in Iraq is that nobody knows what it means. If Iraq were instantly made into an autonomous democracy at this moment, it would be dominated by anti-Western Shiites and would ally itself with Iran. This is not acceptable to the U.S. leadership, therefore, some sort of dictatorial or colonial regime must be contemplated, installed and maintained by force the way Saddam Hussein's was, only now obedient to foreign powers -- a very difficult undertaking. However, no one wants to spell this out; meanwhile, American soldiers and marines, along with many Iraqis, will go on getting killed, maimed, terrorized, tortured, and so on for a vague, unreachable conclusion.

The first thing that needs to be done is to get real. Then we can discuss and debate. The Democrats might bring about this reality, this honesty, but I am afraid they will mostly posture and preach, as the Republicans do. Everyone is looking at 2008. It looks to me that the idiocy and insanity of the last three or four years are going to be followed by the idiocy and insanity of the next three or four years. Maybe whoever becomes president in 2009 will have the intestinal fortitude to face the facts. It'll be a long wait, especially for those who have the misfortune to be located in Iraq. Well, maybe some enjoy it, as al-Qaeda claims to.

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