Welcome to Iraq War, Year Four

Today the first three years of the Iraq War are officially completed and we enter our fourth year of conflict. For some time now, the definition of how we will actually win this war has been on a downward slide; when the war started Donald Rumsfeld said the conflict would take a matter of weeks but probably not months and the conventional wisdom had it that our troops were going to be met with candy and flowers by a people thrilled at the prospect of liberation. Although they weren't saying so publicly, I suspect that quite a few NeoCons were certain we'd be in Damascus by late 2003. When that rosy view proved to be a fantasy (just like Saddam's WMDs), success became defined by defeating or outlasting the insurgency. When it became obvious that this wouldn't be happening for many, many years (if it's even possible at all), success became defined as staying long enough for a unified government to take shape so that someone else could battle the insurgents. Now it seems as though the administration is defining victory as just making sure that the low-intesity civil war now underway in Iraq doesn't devolve into an all-out civil war.

When I think back three years to the months leading up to the war, I think my position at the time was probably reflective of a lot of Americans. Although I never believed for a second that there was any connection between Saddam and what happened on 9/11, nor any meaningful connection between Saddam and Al Qaeda, I must admit to my shame that I did not do anything to speak out against the coming war. I remained quiet for a couple of reasons. First, I knew that American men and women would be going into harm's way and, despite my strong reservations, I was hoping against hope that the military engagement (which was obviously a foregone conclusion at the time, no matter how often Bush stated that he hadn't yet made up his mind) would be accomplished quickly and with as little loss of life and limb as possible. Second, in my naivete I actually thought that perhaps my government knew something I didn't, that maybe Saddam and his phantom nuclear/chemical/biological arsenal was more of a threat to this country than he appeared.

How wrong I was. The administration was not only "mistaken" about what kind of threat Saddam posed to America, they obviously had no plan beyond Shock and Awe to deal with the prospect of occupying a hostile and divided population. Three years later our men and women continue to sacrifice their lives and there's no real end in sight.

So please allow me to suggest a solution to the war-buffs out there. Just do now what you're going to do in the end anyway. Start blaming people like me. Start telling yourself that it's people who supposedly want to "cut and run" who are to blame for this failure, and not the fact that we stupidly and needlessly went to occupy a foreign nation without any real plan, all the while believing our own fantasies about how simple it would be. Tell yourself that it's not the architects of this unnecessary war who are to blame, it's the people like me who recognize it for the costly, unwinable mistake that it is. Scream that we are cowards and that the war would be won if it weren't for our weak stomachs. Do it loudly and often enough to convince yourself that it's true.

My hope is that if you have someone to blame we can wind our involvment in this mess up as soon as possible. The only other foreseeable series of events that might lead to an end of the spilling of American blood and treasure in the near future is the hope that the President will get so much pressure from his own party--many of whom are facing a very hostile electorate that has long since soured on this whole adventure in Empire--that he will decide to go with the old "declare victory and leave" gambit. But I don't see that as particularly likely. No, my money is on the much more popular "find a way to point the finger at your political enemies for your own mistakes" strategy.

So yes, start blaming us now. You're going to come around to it sooner or later anyway. I'm sure many of you have already started. That way when we begin drawing our forces down (as we inevitably will sooner or later) you can say that you weren't wrong about the war but that the troops were actually betrayed by some sort of America-hating fifth column. It's not true, but if it helps bring our men and women home faster and safer, it's well worth it.