It’s now something like 10 killed a week; this is becoming worse and worse as they try to spin their way out of everything, not the least being that they had no plan for invasion or for post-war Iraq.

Be fair, Scott - Bush knows what he’s doing.

Joshua engaged in very little logistical planning as God directed him, step by step, through the conquest of Canaan etc.  Similarly, the initial explosion of Mohammed’s tribal armies out of Saudi Arabia was carried not by confidence in any careful strategies of the leadership, but by the knowledge that the Big Guy was calling the shots.

Bush is merely adhering closely to well-known historical/mythological precedent as he blindly trundles our nation into endless war.

Come now Les…this was a war of liberation…you know to depose despots…like Charles Taylor of Liberia. Oh wait, maybe I meant like Kim Jong-il of North Korea.

Let me get back to you when I can find another despot in a country that has resources the U.S. wants.

I do not have a good, warm feeling about this Iraq WMD nonsense.  The way Bush got us into this thing was ridiculous�liberating the Iraqi people, blah, blah, blah.  What I would have done was to remind Iraq of that little piece of paper they signed in 1991.  It went something like this:

We, the Iraqi government, unconditionally promise to drag our tired asses back to our god-forsaken sand box and leave the sand box known as Kuwait alone.  We will also dismantle our WMD programs and allow UN inspections.  We will do this if you crazy ass Americans stop killin� the shit out of us and go back to watching Baywatch and MTV.

That they signed an unconditional surrender and reneged on the terms was enough reason (though I would not have attacked them for that).  I wish Bush had just allowed the Iraqi�s to continue their programs and if we were attacked, go in and get them (if Iraq was found to be the culprit).  This is a big country�we can handle a few thousand civilian casualties, the collapse of our financial markets, and panic in the streets.

Being grateful and skeptical are two different things. Iraq has a little more than 20 million people and about ten U.S. soldiers a week are being killed. If they were so ungrateful wouldn�t you think they would be causing a lot more harm? Besides, are these attacks coming from the general populace or from people who have strong contacts to the former government and therefore will have no involvement in Iraq�s future? Bush and his administration are doing a piss poor job in their ability to plan for the future ramifications of their decisions but I don�t believe that the situation in Iraq is getting to the point of failure? Of course that view does sell better and gets the blood boiling and we love to get our blood boiling don�t we?

I am not saying that this is the same situation as occupied Japan or Germany. They were exhausted after a long and bloody war and they had no real belief that we were there to permanently occupy them. What I see from the non-violent actions of the Iraqi�s is skepticism of our ability or desire to do what is best for them. When you consider their history, our past actions, and the government they lived under for so many years I do not blame them. But that is skepticism not ungratefulness. Let�s please call it what it is. 

Besides, their proud human beings like the rest of us. Maybe they are impatient to be their own people or that it is belittling to be told that they need a �big brother� to help them, especially one that is American, and everything that term means to them. How do you think the Germans felt about being �Liberated� by the Russians? How do the Iraqi�s know they are not getting into the same situation? It is the only kind of world that they know.

Thinking on a historical sense, if we are not there to occupy them in this way and we do rebuild their country all of these issues fall to the waste side. I do not believe we are there for permanent occupation and I do believe that we can rebuild the country. Yes, Bush�s friends will profit from it and that is disgraceful but after it is finished will that matter to Iraq or to future world events and relationships? Europe and America seemed to get over the whole World War Two thing pretty quickly. Sure, the Soviet Union used that event to take some real estate and ally its self with the participants that got fucked over after that war but that is another point.