It figures. We won the war in Iraq and all of you pussies are still complaining about it. President Bush did the right thing in invading Iraq. What other country would we allow to break the rules of cease-fire and get away with it? If Japan had violated the peace treaty after WWII, we would have fired up the Enola Gay & bombed them again. It will take some more time, but Iraq & the world will be better off because we invaded them. But you left-wing fags won't admit it 'cause you all have Bush-deranged syndrome.
I was in Damascus, Syria when the war started, up at 4 am as American cable news reported the first bombs dropped on Baghdad, filled with sorrow that such weak opposition had been put up to such as shakily premised war, and somehow knowing that the bombs of "shock and awe" were mostly going to kill unlucky civilians.
I remember exactly where I was when the war started: Parking lot of a nursery (you know, plants) when the radio's normal happy tune-age was interrupted with the news. I sat in my car and listened to that eff-face Bush blather on about terrorists when a huge Monarch butterfly flitted into my car and landed on the steering wheel. Something loud and clear told me: "Everything is now about to change...forever."
Technically, the Iraq War was not a quagmire because, technically, the Iraq War ended either with the fall of Baghdad or with the capture of Saddam Hussein. Both events took place in 2003.
What has been and continues to be a quagmire is the occupation down in which we find ourselves bogged, and which will never truly end, as long as great minds in our midst think things like "the surge" have worked.
So...illegal war followed by a quagmire. And all for the grand purpose of strengthening Iran and al Qaeda. Heckuva job, Bushies.
Was it just me or does it seem really effing tacky to place "Happy Sixth Anniversary of the War in Iraq!" next to a picture of soldiers' coffins? Sarcastic it may be, but it's still messed up.
@madame grey: I'm okay with it. In fact, I'd like to see pictures of the coffins as often as possible. In every publication, under every headline imaginable. If there were more pictures of the war, it would have been over by now. Also, it's Gawker, which are good peoples, so we know that there was no offense intended.
@misslinda: I'm usually not easily offended and I know Gawker would never intentionally take a dump on someone's memory like that. That being said, those coffins hold the bodies of people who lost their lives in violent conflicts and there's really nothing happy about it. Perhaps I'm feeling unusually sensitive since too many of my West Point friends have died in Iraq and Afghanistan but I still think somebody should have looked at that and thought about it for a second.
And I agree that we need more exposure in the media so people actually get it through their skulls that war costs lives. People are so disassociated with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and it needs to be addressed but I think there's a right way and wrong way to go about it.
@madame grey: You are most certainly entitled to those feelings. It's difficult for many of us typical city kids to understand these things since while many of us lost friends and family on 9/11, hardly any of us lost anyone in the Iraq War. So I will humbly defer to your good judgment on whether or not something is inappropriate just like others defer to New Yorkers' good judgment on whether or not it's time to stop mourning those lost on 9/11 (which it's not). My apologies if my post offended you.
But Judith Miller saved us from Anthrax-spewing remote control airplanes who were hours away from bombarding our Texas Tudor McMansions in Overlad Park, Kansas! You ungrateful bastards!
No other Knight in all the land Could do the things which he could do. Not only did he understand The way to polish swords, but knew What remedy a Knight should seek Whose armour had begun to squeak.
@MisterHippity: Hey Gawker, WHY do you "collapse" comments like the one I posted above? What purpose does that serve, other than to "hide" the picture and poem excerpt I posted for no apparent reason?
Forgive me for venting, Gawker, cuz I love you, Man. Really, I do. But this COMMENT-COLLAPSING THING PISSES ME OFF.
How many English cokeheads does it take to keep Soho House solvent? It's hard to say because they're not open yet, but the Chic Happens boys are willing to speculate about the membership roster..."
@Almostbanned: Absolutely correct. We have taken and held a country the size of Texas for six years and have lost 4260 US troops (rest their souls). There were a lot of missteps with the decision to go to war, the planning, the occupation, etc. It is not, however, a quagmire. How are we still referring to it as a war? When does a war become an occupation? We are no longer losing territories or cities or fighting one sect against another. I don't know what we have, but it is no longer a war.
Traditional 6th wedding anniversary gifts have a theme of sugar, iron and candy. Contemporary 6th anniversary gifts have a theme of blood, futility and regret.
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What has been and continues to be a quagmire is the occupation down in which we find ourselves bogged, and which will never truly end, as long as great minds in our midst think things like "the surge" have worked.
So...illegal war followed by a quagmire. And all for the grand purpose of strengthening Iran and al Qaeda. Heckuva job, Bushies.
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And I agree that we need more exposure in the media so people actually get it through their skulls that war costs lives. People are so disassociated with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and it needs to be addressed but I think there's a right way and wrong way to go about it.
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No other Knight in all the land
Could do the things which he could do.
Not only did he understand
The way to polish swords, but knew
What remedy a Knight should seek
Whose armour had begun to squeak.
03/20/09
Forgive me for venting, Gawker, cuz I love you, Man. Really, I do. But this COMMENT-COLLAPSING THING PISSES ME OFF.
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How many English cokeheads does it take to keep Soho House solvent? It's hard to say because they're not open yet, but the Chic Happens boys are willing to speculate about the membership roster..."
And what did you do before the war?
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The Iraq War may have been a lot of things, but quagmire it most certainly was not.
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