I wish Obama had said the same.

"One more victory like this..."

The silly semantics about whether the surge was a "tactic" or a "strategy" were an absurd ruse; a pointless distraction from the broader point. These wars were wrongly decided, and wrongly prosecuted. A future president should pause before repeating these kinds of expensive debacles.

The American public and media are fascinating to me. Thanks to having been tortured himself, McCain receives a benefit-of-the-doubt pass on "national security" issues like Iraq. His comments left plenty of openings for criticism that the tepid Obama failed to capitalize on. Don't even get me started about Sarah Palin, whose good looks, creationist beliefs, and ability to gut a moose on the Alaskan tundra somehow render her more popular than the other three technocrats trying to get their paws on the White House.

This election is replete with the fantasy that American is still a unitary superpower with the moral and military strength to do whatever it wants. To say to the American victory might cost too much would affront many undereducated voters who, raised on Jerry Bruckheimer movies, might imagine that Obama is too pessimistic to be commander in chief. I'm interested in the upcoming VP debate... it looks like Sarah Palin has set expectations so low that any performance absent of drool and stuttering will be interpreted as a success.

Some of us already realize that American power is on the wane. Others of us never will. The last person who will break the ugly truth to the American people is a presidential candidate. This is a season where people rhetorically pretend that all is well with the World, and the United States dominance as a power and people will never end.

Get Out of Iraq

You staged an invasion
Based on concocted information
That we had weapons of mass destruction
But our oil was your real intention

We were no threat to you
Our capabilities were primitive you knew
Your fabricated evidence just grew
And you just did what you had to do

You wanted to get rid of Saddam the bad leader
You said it will make our lives much better
We would never under a dictator suffer
We were fools to believe, you were clever

Saddam is now gone, never to return
Now you terrorize us in turn
Our people you kill, our houses you burn
You seek our gratitude, yet scorn you earn

You cobbled up a coalition of the willing
Of spineless nations to do your bidding
Now, one by one, even they are shirking
Cause the world opinion is now changing

Saddam catered to the elite, you did too
Saddam killed our people, you did too
Saddam tortured our people, you did too
Saddam brutalized the nation, you did too

We were not a democracy but were relatively free
We had jobs and an oil based economy
We had homes, children, spouses, family
We had laughter, sharing, caring, glee

Now we have a democratic government
Our jobs gone, oil yields nary a red cent
Homes bombed, children murdered, family in tent
Torture, sorrow, grief, anguish, lament

Akbar

Although few other commentators would dare say it, what has been done to Iraq is truly a crime. Although there is plenty of blame to go around, the biggest failure lies at the hands of the corporate media, who continue to lead Americans down the path of ignorance. How many Americans believe the rhetoric that the "surge" has worked and they are "winning" in Iraq? The number lies in the millions.

Re. debate
Shameful to see Sen. McCain twist around things that Sen. Obama had just said or had said minutes before. If willing to do this with topics the public has just seen, have to wonder what slight of hand and other illusions are in store. Republican handlers should have informed him that the public has supped and already had their fill of that.
Fear that there could be some deep psychological issues dating back to his POW days that could lead to very serious problems if president. Seemed far too keen on the saving face aspect of withdrawl from Iraq, (how much face will be lost in the coming economic depression? or does that count as it's not the military face) far too keen also on inclusion in NATO of Ukraine and that other one, ..... ummm can't think of it right off.... oh yeah, Georgia. Not sure if a save face at all costs, take sh%& from no one, mad maverick attitude is going to get us through the next 4-8 yrs.
Like Eric wrote in a previous column, not sure if citizens of NATO countries would want to all die in nuclear war for 50 000 South Ossetians, of those only %25 are Georgians (12 500 people) quote from wikipedia "According to the Tskhinvali election authorities, the referendum turned out a majority for independence from Georgia where 99% of South Ossetian voters supported independence and the turnout for the vote was 95%" Take this math into account and it would be WW3 for the sake of 750 people ahah! 6% of 12 500.
Funny to see McCain schooling Obama on how to keep quiet and not say out loud things one might do, in regards to fighting inside Pakistan, I'm sure that Mcain and friends in Israel proper and Israel local have plans a plenty as yet undisclosed. I'm sure later after the debate he told Obama that things like that are best sung as a folk song or a beach boys re-mix.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAzBxFaio1I

I feel for Akbar and his people. As a Canadian I am distressed when I wee my American brothers engage in a path the will ultimately lead to their demise and possibly our own.
I fear that the US electorate will not vote for a black man, bit instead opt for a physically frail hot head whose stand in give a whole new meaning to the word Provincial.

in fairness, obama is the one who keeps going on and on about taking action within pakistan itself. as though the country doesn't have nuclear weapons and a 600,000 man army.

Another great column. Words matter so much in more ways than one. Words that make sense, of course, as in a well-written, sensible piece that depicts reality with some accuracy. But in a more subtle way, words really count.

Eric speaks of the OCCUPATION of Iraq and Afghanistan, while the MSM constantly bleat about the WARS. It makes all the difference in the world. A country being at 'war' is like a person being in a fight: you can lose and get hurt. So people have a strong sense of national solidarity and that 'this is not the time to bicker about petty politics when we're under attack'. (In a 'war', you are by definition 'under attack'.)

The US is not under attack.

The US went to war against 2 countries that were woefully overmatched and the US won those wars with the greatest of ease. Now, both those countries are under OCCUPATION. It's a dirty word, and doesn't have at all the same effect on citizens' patriotism and sense of national duty as does the word 'war'. That's why the administration never uses 'occupation' and the sheepish MSM obey obsequiously by always talking about the wars.

Imagine the difference if the media simply called things what they really are and talked everyday about the OCCUPATIONS, and put appropriate emphasis on the mayhem in Iraq and Ahghanistan. Everyday, more Americans would ask: "Why are we sending our young men and women to get killed and mutilated halfway around the world to occupy countries that are of absolutely no danger to us?"

That's why the dirty word OCCUPATION is avoided.

The reality of occupation is so incredibly straightforward. Foreign soldiers who don't speak the language and are totally ignorant of local conditions traipsing around armed to the teeth; increasingly disdainful and hateful of locals; increasingly resentful, brutalized, and quick to shoot; with everybody but a tiny minority of hated collaborators who hate them in return... No amount of sensitivity 'training' or whatever will change that. OCCUPATIONS, as Eric points out, quickly turn to nastiness and cost a huge price in every way conceivable.

Why is it done? Obviously to take/protect some assets. The US is no more likely to occupy Afghanistan and Iraq to bring democracy or send little girls to school than Sarah Palin is likely to have picked up some geopolitical clues just because Russia is not that far from Alaska.

Obviously the MSM is not doing its job of explaining what is going on and putting the appropriate emphasis where it should so that citizens can have a solid idea of reality. That is the main problem with the media. But simply calling things by their proper name would be a significant improvement. Americans buy into this 'war' fantasy partly because the MSM doesn't cover the occupations as they should. Can we really blame the average American for believing the US is 'winning the war' in Iraq.

So while I agree with "chatman" that it's a red herring to debate whether the surge is a 'tactic' or a 'strategy', akin to the futility of debating how many angels can dance on a pin, the issue of the words we use is extremely important and too many people go along naively talking about the 'wars' when the use of that word makes a big difference.

We should NEVER utter the word WAR for what it happening in Iraq and Afghanistan. Some will say that 'a rose by any other name is still a rose'. Absolutely. Calling it a 'war' doesn't make it so; but it does help confuse a lot of people as to what is actually going on over there. The correct word repeated continuously every day, as it should be, would make a significant difference. OCCUPATION

Why are you demonizing Iran?? Don't we have enough war-mongers doing that already?
For someone who is opposed to US intervention brutality you sound like you are right in there with the propagandist rabble rousers.

Ignorance isn't always bliss as Cheney and Co. have learned. One feels sadness for the majority of Americans who never asked for any of this.
www.reedwrites.ca

To this Canadian, it is a bit of a consolation to see Obama rising above the redneck masses in his quest for presidency.

That said, I also find it pathetic to hear Obama confronting McCain over the issue of where to bomb, next...

'You will continue bombing Iraq...but I'm more enlightened and will bomb Afghanistan and Pakistan.'

I cannot get over the sheer gall of Americans thinking they have the Divine Right to bomb the world.

Are you all nuts???

Are there any peacenicks left to take to the streets?

I know that I canot count on (fellow) Christians to do so.