A Happy Reflection upon the War in Iraq

(This is a comment posted to Times blogger Kurt Campbell about Bush's -- really our -- "Siberian dilemma" in Iraq.)

Bush doesn't have to get out of Iraq and there's no reason for him to try. He'll be off the hook on Jan. 20, 2009, which is not too far away. Other people's bloodshed doesn't harm him in the least, and in retirement he can snipe at whoever's in office as much as he likes. Some people may even believe him. As Mencken said, so long ago, "No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people."

If the war goes on for a few more years and our country is near ruin and civil war over it, maybe it will be a lesson to future generations not to start a war just because we CAN; to wait until we're under attack (or credible threat of attack); to wait on war until we HAVE TO. That would be a good rule to follow.

Look on the bright side! Maybe we'll learn! Austria-Hungary started a little war in 1914 out of sheer whimsy, and it got way out of hand, and sure enough -- Austria-Hungary hasn't started a single war since.

A letter on Iraq to the New York Times

To the Editor:

What will Iraq look like when it is sufficiently at peace for us to leave? Granted we should never have gone in (I was demonstrating against that when we did), and our original vision was absurd, and the folks who planned and carried out the invasion were as ignorant as they were arrogant. If we could just shoot them and make an end, I'd be all for that. But it wouldn't help anything now.

We can't just leave, no matter how much the American people want to leave -- the situation we leave behind will become an aggressive civil war, and the winner will breed terror for all our friends in the region, and in Europe, and in the U.S. To leave now (unlike Vietnam, where cutting and running was the wisest thing to do) would just produce greater disasters down the road.

I would like to know what the administration (not that I expect them to care) and the military (who do care, because they will have to fact it) and the candidates for the presidency (one of whom will also have to face it) is the Iraq we are hoping, realistically, to achieve, and how will we know it has been reached and we can leave. Benchmarks don't cut it; I want a comprehensive vision.

How will we know we are getting there? It is just turbulence and escalating disaster and more and more refugees (for whom we are morally responsible) now. What would be a step towards improvement? What would be success? Is there any possibility of that? Or has Bush really given us eternal war?

Sincerely,

John Yohalem