Turning Point in Iraq?

"In World War II, the complete defeat of all enemies of the United States and its coalition of allies was inevitable approximately three years after the beginning of hostilities.

In the American Civil War, the turning point took place in 1863 at Gettysburg, approximately two years after the start of hostilities.

In World War I, the turning point happened when 3 Million American soldiers arrived and turned the tide of the 3 year long stalemate. The war was over about one year later.

Our Revolutionary War turned after about 3 years.

The War on Terror, which has a start date of September 11, 2001, has now gone on for four and one-half years, and the beginning of the war is not over yet. ..."

From OhioDem1's How to Sell A War

Making the World Safe for Hypocrisy

Why are we in Iraq? First we were told it was because Saddam had WMD and we could expect mushroom clouds over American cities if he were allowed to stay in power; then the goal was getting rid of a brutal dictator who gassed his own people and by the way has a "blood feud" with America; the latest rationale is that we are bringing democracy to a troubled part of the world.

The rad-con democracy domino theory is that Iraq will become a shining example of representative democracy in the middle east that all its neighbors will desire to follow. Despite a couple elections, this utopia seems further away than ever.

Meanwhile, back here in the USA, the Bush administration is quietly choking off funding to the primary organizations that are actually training Iraqis on how to set up and run democratic political parties, elections, and governments. Is this hypocrisy?

"The commitment to what the president of the United States will say every single day of the week is his number one priority in Iraq, when it's translated into action, looks very tiny," said Les Campbell, who runs programs in the Middle East for the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, known as NDI.(see link to story in title) Apparently, there has been no response to these reports from the White House.

It appears that military and security spending is cutting back the only legitimate pro-democracy efforts America is conducting in Iraq. This is just the latest example of the Bush administration's failure to put the money where its mouth is. If we really want to know what politicians value, we need to find out what programs they fund and which they cut.

QuestionItNow

The American Revolution - another perspective

"Make no mistake; the American Revolution was not fought to obtain freedom, but to preserve liberties the Americans already had as colonials.

Independence was no conscious goal, secretly nurtured in cellar or jungle by bearded conspirators, but a reluctant last resort, to preserve "life, liberty and the pusuit of happiness."
- Samuel Eliot Morison, The Oxford History of the American People

Where are the American patriots today?