Chaos, Confusion and Still More Death

With 112 U.S. deaths in Iraq, December was the third deadliest month of Bush's immoral war of choice. 80 soldiers have lost their lives in January, bringing the total body count to 3,080 dead. Tens of thousands of wounded. Iraq is in a state of total chaos and utter confusion as the Sunni insurgents battle the Shi'ite militias and our troops are caught in the middle with both sides taking shots at them. Unless somebody has a weapon pointed directly at them, how are they supposed to know who the enemy is? And now George W. Bush is bound and determined to drop 22,000 more American men and women into this mess, into this hornet's nest that he's stirred up. Our legislators are so intent on finding the right word to call it, whether it be "escalation" or "augmentation" or whatever today's pretty little euphamism is, that it seems like some of them have forgotten the fact that lives are being lost every single day. And things aren't getting any better. In fact, the chaos and confusion is getting worse, despite the pretty picture Bush is trying to paint. New, highly sophisticated tactics are being employed to kill U.S. soldiers.

A team of gunmen, posing as a US security team entered the Provincial Joint Coordination Center in Karbala and abducted 4 US soldiers. Iraqi security, believing the group of black SUV's to be a governmental convoy, waved them through a checkpoint and allowed them to enter the compound. The gunmen, who by accounts of the incident, spoke english, wore US combat fatigues and carried American weapons, entered the portion of the center that housed US soldiers and opened fire, killing one US soldier and abducted four others. The abducted soldiers were later found in a neighboring province about 25 miles from the compound where they'd been taken. They'd been handcuffed and executed. Three were dead at the scene and the fourth died of a gunshot wound to the head on the way to the hospital. The US military initially described the incident as a raid on an Iraqi governor's office and said that the soldiers were killed "repelling" the assault. Within hours of the AP reporting that the dead soldiers had been abducted and executed though, the military finally gave a detailed and accurate account of the incident.

"The precision of the attack, the equipment used and the possible use of explosives to destroy the military vehicles in the compound suggests that the attack was well rehearsed prior to execution," said Lt. Col. Scott Bleichwehl, spokesman for Multi-National Division-Baghdad.

Gee, that's just great. So now our soldiers have to worry about the insurgents who want to kill them, the militias who want to kill them, the random IED attacks that are killing them and now, in addition to all of that, they have to worry about the people wearing US uniforms that want to kill them. With all of that confusion swirling around them, how in the hell are they supposed to know who the enemy is? How are they supposed to achieve this "victory" that Bush keeps talking about? Adding another 22,000 people into the absolute horror show that is Iraq is only going to make matters worse, is only going to give the insurgents/militia/death-squads/terrorists more targets to shoot at.

The number of deaths in Iraq isn't dropping, it's rising. The number of attacks is increasing and the level of violence grows with each passing day. The "victory" that Bush seems to think can be achieved in Iraq is nothing but a farce. We lost this war long, long ago. But his pride and his ego won't let him admit failure, won't let him admit defeat. There is no vicotry to be had in Iraq. And our brave men and women will continue to pay the price for his mistakes and his arrogance.

~Kevin S.