Couldn't Get Worse

I used to be cruel to my woman
I beat her and kept her apart from the things that she loved
Man I was mean but I'm changing my scene
And I'm doing the best that I can

--Getting Better, The Beatles

Well, come on Wall Street, don't move slow,
Why man, this is war au-go-go.
There's plenty good money to be made
By supplying the Army with the tools of the trade

--Feel Like I'm Fixin' to Die, Country Joe and the Fish

So Senator McCain assures us it's getting better in Iraq ("McCain: Iraq Security Improving.")

But like the Beatles' tune, of course it must be improving--it couldn't possibly get worse.

The crackdown in the capital may or may not be working, but the security situation in the entire country is still a goat screw. (I felt Picasso's Guernica was the correct pictorial depiction of such a situation, short of researching some esoteric animal husbandry texts.)

The entire issue is conscribed by the following:

[1] Is this a fight against U.S. occupation, or

[2] Is this a fight for power between Sunni and Shia?

Whatever the answer--even if it is a melange--leaves the definitive question: Why are we there at all? The continued occupation of Iraq does not, can not, will not and shall not make America safer. So what are we fighting for?

McCain said in the article America lacked a "full picture" of the progress. The U.S. military later reported six soldiers killed in roadside bombings Southwest of Baghdad. I'll bet even money that the families of these soldiers now understand the "full picture," for whom these six soldiers are the centerpiece of the tableaux. Would McCain's attitude change if this were his son?

McCain seems to be impressed with the establishment of security posts throughout Baghdad. Why? U.S. troops are bunkered and hunkered and run patrols...so what?

This is not winning hearts and minds; it is simply occupying terrain on a temporary basis. Mr. McCain should remember that Saigon was secure until it fell to Communist forces. Wars are won by the end score, not the eye candy produced by our surge tactics. The article concludes,

While the capital has seen a recent dip in violence as extra U.S. and Iraqi troops have flooded the streets, an Iraqi military spokesman said that militants fleeing the crackdown have made areas outside the capital "breeding grounds for violence," spreading deadly bombings and sectarian attacks to areas once relatively untouched.

It is sad to look at U.S. actions through a historical lens.