The Horrifying Reality Slowly Begins to Break Through

Story:

Republican lawmakers acknowledge that it is no longer tenable to say the news media are ignoring the good news in Iraq and painting an unfair picture of the war. In the first half of this year, 14,338 Iraqi civilians died violent deaths, according to a new report by the U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq. Last month alone, 3,149 civilians were killed -- an average of more than 100 a day.

Iraq's population is roughly one-tenth that of the United States. Can you imagine the state of all-encompassing hysteria that would have descended on this country (to say nothing of martial law) if more than 1,000 Americans were being killed every single day -- or if 31,490 Americans had been killed last month alone?

And still Bush says, "stay the course." And still Republicans cling to the same utterly failed notions and mouth the same nauseating slogans, even as they are forced to acknowledge at least part of this incomprehensibly grim reality:

The evolving Republican message on the war contrasts with the strong rhetoric used by House and Senate Republicans recently in opposing a deadline for withdrawal from Iraq. During a debate last month, Gutknecht intoned, "Members, now is not the time to go wobbly." This week, he conceded "I guess I didn't understand the situation," saying that a partial troop withdrawal now would "send a clear message to the Iraqis that the next step is up to you."

...

"Look, you have got one of two options," [House Majority Leader John A.] Boehner said. "We can pull out, walk away and watch everything that we've worked for and the Iraqis worked for fall apart and watch pure civil war break out, or we can stay the course. . . . As difficult as the problems are on the ground, it is either one of two options."

But, Mr. Boehner, "pure civil war" has broken out. What is infinitely worse, the story makes absolutely clear that the Republicans' extremely grudging concessions to the starkly obvious reality of Iraq now are only the result of election-year strategy. For example: "Sen. John Thune (S.D.) told reporters at the National Press Club that if he were running for reelection this year, 'you obviously don't embrace the president and his agenda.'" And: "Republicans, especially those in swing districts, had no choice but to shift the emphasis of their war talk, lawmakers said. 'The Iraq issue is the lens through which people are looking at the federal government,' said Rep. Charles W. Dent (Pa.), another swing-district Republican. 'That is the issue to most people. There's no question about that.'"

It's not what's right for the Iraqis, or even for our troops: No, the only issue is what will get Republicans elected. These people are entirely contemptible.

And far worse is in store if we remain in Iraq:

Fourteen. Imagine your 14-year-old sister or your 14-year-old daughter. Imagine her being gang-raped by a group of psychopaths and then the girl was killed and her body burned to cover up the rape. Finally, her parents and her five-year-old sister were also killed. Hail the American heroes... Raise your heads high supporters of the 'liberation' - your troops have made you proud today. I don't believe the troops should be tried in American courts. I believe they should be handed over to the people in the area and only then will justice be properly served. And our ass of a PM, Nouri Al-Maliki, is requesting an 'independent investigation', ensconced safely in his American guarded compound because it wasn't his daughter or sister who was raped, probably tortured and killed. His family is abroad safe from the hands of furious Iraqis and psychotic American troops.

It fills me with rage to hear about it and read about it. The pity I once had for foreign troops in Iraq is gone. It's been eradicated by the atrocities in Abu Ghraib, the deaths in Haditha and the latest news of rapes and killings. I look at them in their armored vehicles and to be honest- I can't bring myself to care whether they are 19 or 39. I can't bring myself to care if they make it back home alive. I can't bring myself to care anymore about the wife or parents or children they left behind. I can't bring myself to care because it's difficult to see beyond the horrors. I look at them and wonder just how many innocents they killed and how many more they'll kill before they go home. How many more young Iraqi girls will they rape?

Why don't the Americans just go home? They've done enough damage and we hear talk of how things will fall apart in Iraq if they 'cut and run', but the fact is that they aren't doing anything right now. How much worse can it get? People are being killed in the streets and in their own homes- what's being done about it? Nothing. It's convenient for them- Iraqis can kill each other and they can sit by and watch the bloodshed- unless they want to join in with murder and rape.

GET. OUT. NOW.