The Road to Nowhere

(With apologies to the Talking Heads) This entry's title reflects both my current camping plans and where I see the U.S. going in Iraq. Right now, between my wife's lingering cold and the demands of her job, we aren't looking at doing any camping until Memorial Day weekend. (sob) I'm better now.

As for Iraq, why is it that anyone who questions the war and the effectiveness of the Bush foreign policy is tarred and feathered as someone who does not support the troops? Personally, I oppose the war and always have, but I support the troops. They are in a thankless position, fighting a war that cannot be won, not without bankrupting either the American economy or what is left of our reputation as a world leader. It seems as if we have moved from being a bastion of freedom to being merely another colonial power seeking to impose our will in the Middle East.

The increased American military presence merely props up an unpopular Iraqi government (Gee, that sounds familiar. Remember the Shah or Iran or, dare I say the name, Saddam?) while not requiring the various factions to seek some middle ground. (Can you say diplomacy? I knew that you could.) What leadership!

With our invasion and subsequent occupancy of Iraq, America has forever forfeited any right to take the moral high ground in any argument. We no longer have standing to complain about the ongoing atrocities in Darfur or the Chinese oppression in Tibet. The suggestion that President Bush should seriously consider skipping the Opening Ceremonies of the upcoming Olympic Games in Beijing is laughable and is about as likely as Bush proposing his own impeachment. It ain't gonna happen and would be meaningless if it did.

Instead, it is more likely that if and when American troops finally come home from Iraq our presence there will be remembered as Generation X's Vietnam. Right now, the only real differences between the two are that fewer American soldiers have died thus far in Iraq (thankfully) and those soldiers have not yet spent as much time in Iraq. The latter is destined to change. Hopefully the former will not follow suit.

Ah, for the simplicity and innocence of camping.