The Agony and the Tragedy

As I sit and watch Iraq devolving into an outright civil war after the bombing of the Golden Mosque, I cant help but think that the United States' credibility, our position of incluence in the world, and our economic future are crumbling along with the walls of the ancient temple. Our country is gripped with a sense of helplessness as the drama takes its own course; we can only stand by and let the events play themselves out.

What an incredible irony that despite the $250 billion dollars spent on military actions in Iraq, our military and political leaders there can not even deploy our troops to try to restore order. They know that the presence of American troops on the streets will only feed the flames of the insurrection and hasten the coming civil war. Like Gulliver, the military giant is rendered helpless by an army of tiny insurgents.

Despite my plan to withdraw American troops to adjacent countries eight months ago (see below), I have no suggestions for success at this point. This is not a failure of imagination. Our efforts in the past three years since the invasion have only postponed the inevitable. As with a person who jumps from a plane with no parachute, the time for planning was before we invaded Iraq. Now, we can only watch the scenery fly by as we plunge toward earth and certain disaster.