celebrating good times in iraq

by Robert DeFrance

Published: March 23, 2008

Another high end government official busted for illegal activities; Mr Spitzer joins the ranks of Larry Craig, Tom Foley and Scooter Libby. But, as the media uncovered the salacious details of the Governor’s exploits, I began to wonder, could this possibly be an elaborate smoke screen to divert our attention from something more vital, more significant?

As it happens, March 16th marked the 5-year anniversary of the War in Iraq. On CNN, Vice President Dick Cheney praised the war effort as “a difficult, challenging, but nonetheless, successful endeavor.” And why not say this to a national audience of people hungry for your bloo… er… I mean victory? It couldn’t make things any worse. Then it occurred to me, what proof do we really have that his statement is not completely true? All prior lack of honesty or transparency aside, what Cheney says is at least a possibility. I decided to give him a fair shot.

Difficult? Yes. But only in that losing 30,000 wounded and dead troops makes it difficult for Cheney to sleep at night.

Challenging? Yes, I’ll give him that too. Finding ways to funnel and launder the majority of more than $500 billion dollars is always a challenge. But luckily we have an administration that likes to meet challenges head on.

Successful? Well… here is where Mr. Cheney and I may part ways. The fact is that most Iraqis still have no running water, no local government and definitely no legitimate democratic government. With these facts in mind, I’m forced to conclude that it’s wrong to “celebrate” the success of our occupation while in the midst of a still-unending stream of bombings and a faltering economy; unless, of course, we are celebrating the record oil profits. I can only assume that the latter interpretation is correct due to his statement that the violence and deaths in Iraq have been “well worth the effort.” Because, admit it, he’s right; it has been “well worth the effort.” As a matter of fact it’s “worth” about $111 a barrel.

Obviously Cheney has what he wants out of the relationship but what about the Iraqis? At times I still don’t know. Yet, even if I did feel like celebrating, I’m stuck with one major quandry:

What do you get an impoverished country on the fifth-year anniversary of a military invasion, the assassination of their leader and the establishment of a puppet-regime?

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