.

"They were all volunteers."

"We're exporting Democracy!"

"We need more US kids to die, so that we can honor the sacrifice of the ones who already died."

"Profits are up, who cares?"

"YAWN"

.

I realize that my [.] is about as ineffectual as a yellow ribbon though . . .

.

Mission accomplished?

≡ Click to see image ≡

Bring the boys home.

...and leave the women there!

no?

Bring the girls home, too, obviously. I was quoting a song title.

Damn, I should have assumed ;)

James McMurtry, We Can't Make It Here Anymore. Posted here before but particularly apropos. Lyrics excerpt:
Now I'm stocking shirts in the Wal-Mart store
Just like the ones we made before
'Cept this one came from Singapore
I guess we can't make it here anymore
Should I hate a people for the shade of their skin
Or the shape of their eyes or the shape I'm in
Should I hate 'em for having our jobs today
No I hate the men sent the jobs away
I can see them all now, they haunt my dreams
All lily white and squeaky clean
They've never known want, they'll never know need
Their shit don't stink and their kids won't bleed
Their kids won't bleed in the damn little war
And we can't make it here anymore

Will work for food
Will die for oil
Will kill for power and to us the spoils
The billionaires get to pay less tax
The working poor get to fall through the cracks
Let 'em eat jellybeans let 'em eat cake
Let 'em eat shit, whatever it takes
They can join the Air Force, or join the Corps
If they can't make it here anymore

CNN is now reporting we reached the 2000 mark over the weekend.

I don't want to make light of the sacrifice of our soldiers, but it is not the number of dead that is truly staggering to me, it is the pointlessness of their deaths.

If you haven't read The Fall of the Warrior King in the New York Times Magazine, it is worth the read. Either we're going to be over there a real long time and 2000 US deaths will be a meaningless milestone or we're going to leave an unbelievabe mess with a number of Iraqi deaths that would dwarf our losses. Considering the near certain likelihood of ethnic civil war, I don't know whether I'd support bringing the boys home without a complete UN take-over. Except our boys seem to kill more non-combatants and do more long-term damage every day just following orders.

we're not ever gonna have a UN takeover--all those oil contracts would disappear, so our people have to come home now--yesterday even. You don't keep doing something that's not working--you cut your losses and leave (and leave entirely--no massive permanent bases, no Americans owning Iraqi assets, etc).

Most macabre of all, the wingnut blogs have been paying more attention to this than ever before -- just to mock the Quakers for planning candlelight vigils. Over at Pretty Hate Machine (you know the place I mean) they're labeling this "ghoul parties".

Although as I said, ironically, the righties are paying more attention to these deaths than the lefties. Maybe that counts for something.

It's certainly telling.

More numbers:
* Iraq Body Count currently records the number of Iraqi civilian fatalities as at least 26,690, and as many as 30,051.
* As of this writing, at least 3,450 Iraqi security forces have been killed since the start of the insurgency.
* In addition to Iraqi and American fatalities, coalition forces in Iraq have suffered at least 199 fatalities, including 97 from Britain.
* Further, as of this writing, at least 272 contractors have been killed in Iraq.
* Finally, lest we forget, at least 58 journalists have also been killed in Iraq.

If ethnic civil war breaks out, the US will have caused (rather than failed to stop) another genocide. Saudi Arabia and Iran would be likely to become involved, possibily dragging most of the Middle East into a war by proxy in Iraq. I'm not sure I'm comfortable with that strong possibility. This Orwellian no-win clusterfuck was never about democracy, liberty, oil, or fighting a war to "protect the peace". But when it comes to preventing epic catatastophe sometimes the ends justify the means.

i've read that that was the aim all along--instability, allowing us to control the resources. If it was calm, other countries could buy the oil or pay off the dictators or something instead of us.