Heaven Help Us

From AmericaBlog, this is a link to a BBC documentary that is following a US Army unit in Iraq. It is absolutely horrifying to watch, as it lays out in no uncertain terms that we are, unfortunately, doomed to fail.

Why?

As you can see in the video, the US Army has an impossible task. They are supposed to a) protect themselves from harm and b) encourage the Iraqis to 'stand up'. When they attempt a) they almost certainly fail at b) & when they try b) they put their own lives at risk, thus negating a). You also cannot blame the Iraqis for this, they are just doing what they can to stay alive. In a perfect world, they would be able to work with the Americans without worry. Instead, they live in communities with people who are determined to harm them if they cooperate with the US.

In watching this video, I can't help but seethe with anger. Four years ago, the airwaves and newspapers were saturated with 'serious' thinkers who saw our involvement in Iraq as a realistic and rational foreign policy. Anyone who deviated from the accepted hawkish view on Iraq was seen as an unhinged moonbat. Anyone who asked what the long term plan was going to be was labeled an alarmist. Yet, time after time we were proven right and it is not fun to be right about such matters.