:::More Notes From Underground:::

I didn't catch Bush's speech last night, I was working instead. Truth be told, I didn't really care that I had missed it. I'm sure it was a stage-managed attempt to insist that for sure this time everything is going to be better. Scott has some links if you want more analysis of it though.

The quote that keeps coming to mind as I consider the debacle that is Iraq came from a young veteran testifying before the US Congress on the matter of the Vietnam War.

"How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?"

I don't think that John Kerry has said anything quite so insightful and concise since then. This war has been a mistake at the very least, and perhaps it is something much worse. Over three thousand men and women have died for this mistake/crime against humanity.

I don't feel any glee about opposing this war and being right about its potential for disaster. I don't take any joy in calling Bush "Mr. Chimpy" or something like that any more. I just feel sad for the terrible, terrible waste that this war has been. And what has it been for?

Today I did manage to catch Joe Biden's statement at a Senate Foreign Relations committee hearing. One thing stood out:

"But because so much is at stake, I am also not prepared to give up on finding a bi-partisan way forward that meets the twin goals most Americans share: to bring home our troops while leaving behind a stable Iraq."

A stable Iraq? We had that in 2002. The goal now is to get back to where we started. The Poor Man has a superb piece on the shifting goal posts in Iraq. Biden does not ask for a "democratic" Iraq or one more sympathetic to US interests. The truth is, there is probably not much more that can be attained in Iraq by the US.