Iraq reality check: Americans go from delusion to denial to depression By Max J. Castro

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 My apologies to everybody- my elist got erased- again!  I do daily viral checks, so I wonder.... I had an April version on a disk, so if I took you off and you are back on, please let me know, and I'll remove you again.  Peace, Carol

 

 Genesis 18: ¹⁴Is any thing too hard for the LORD?

America is waking up!  

 

Iraq reality check: Americans go from delusion to denial to depression   By Max J. Castro   Slowly, grudgingly, the American people are being compelled by reality to accept the truth: The Bush administration has led this country into a quagmire in Iraq. The result: in the latest poll, only 42 percent approve of the way Bush is handling his job.    On Iraq, the majority of Americans has gone from delusion to denial to the awareness, now just dawning, that they were misled and that the war is a tragic mistake. The main reason for this new and still emerging consciousness is that this war, at the outset opposed by almost the entire world but supported overwhelmingly by Americans, has cost more in lives and money than its enthusiastic backers, among the blindly patriotic masses and the cunning politicians, ever imagined.   It is one thing to watch gleefully, like in a video game, tens of thousands of Iraqi troops, hopelessly outgunned and fleeing, being slaughtered by weapons fired safely from above or afar. But this is not the Gulf War, and it is a far different thing to see, despite the official ban on photographic images, the mounting toll of your own dead and wounded, maimed by crude but lethal weapons. One thing is to go to war with the legitimacy of the United Nations, a real military coalition, and the financial support of many countries – and with the justifiable purpose of defeating and expelling an invader. It is something else to wage an illegal war under false pretenses, to wage it nearly alone – morally, financially and militarily – only to become an occupying force existing in constant fear and under permanent attack. And, most significantly and ominously for Bush and for the country, it is not the same to win and get out than to engage in a protracted stalemate with no end in sight, a black hole endlessly swallowing flesh and funds.   Much too late for Kerry, too late for tens of thousands of dead Americans and Iraqis, and perhaps too late to avert further tragedy, the people of this country are waking from their long stupor. All the polls show it; most Americans now say the war has not been worth the price and that the country is no safer for it. A Gallup poll in mid-June found that a strong majority (59 percent) of Americans wants to withdraw some or all American troops. As to the comparison with Vietnam, despite the administration’s furious efforts to deny any similarity, nearly two thirds (65 percent) of Americans believe the United States is bogged down in Iraq.   It has taken a long time for many Americans who backed the war to admit that they were wrong – mistaken, deceived, or manipulated. Indeed, many cling stubbornly to their original beliefs in spite of any and all evidence; one third of Americans continue to affirm that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. But the newest numbers imply that a significant percentage of the public now has crossed the psychological barrier that has prevented from admitting they erred.   In the latest survey, a New York Times/CBS News Poll taken June 10-15, 51 percent of the public said that, looking back, they thought the United States should have stayed out of Iraq. Only 45 percent still believe military action was the right thing to do.    As to the present, the public’s outlook is bleaker and getting bleaker. A strong majority of Americans say the effort by the United States to stabilize Iraq is going badly – 60 percent, up from 47 percent in February. And the data imply Bush is not escaping blame for the Iraq fiasco; only 37 percent believe that Bush is handling the conflict well.   With victory in Iraq nowhere on the horizon and Bush’s campaign to con the American people on social security nearly dead, the President’s approval ratings have taken a sharp plunge. It is no wonder: in the New York Times/CBS News poll, Americans who thought the country was going in the wrong direction outnumbered those who thought the country was on the right track by nearly 2-1.   The media is finally – and carefully – beginning to take notice. Last weekend, a network White House correspondent noted that one has to go back to Richard Nixon and Watergate to find such a low approval rating for a newly reelected president – only to quickly and emphatically add that no one expects the Bush presidency will meet the same end as Nixon’s.   Another leading indicator is the defection of some former stalwart supporters, most famously Representative Walter B. Jones, the conservative North Carolina Republican who once called for the House cafeteria to rename French fries “freedom fries” and now calls on the administration to set a firm date for withdrawal from Iraq. GOP heavyweights such as Senators Chuck Hagel and John McCain have stopped short of calling for withdrawal but have been sharply critical of the administration’s unrealistic optimism and called for Bush to tell the truth to the American people on Iraq. That truth, McCain said, is that American troops will have to remain – and take casualties – for at least two years.   So far the administration is keeping to its positive spin while vowing to hold the course, arguing that setting a withdrawal date would encourage the insurgents, dismay U.S. allies, and possibly lead to the collapse of the Iraqi government.   This is that rare occasion in which Bush’s analysis, if not his policy, may be correct on all grounds. The hubris of the Bush administration has led the United States into a classical no-win situation. The cost of withdrawal would be high, especially for the Bush legacy and for the dominant and dominating global role the neoconservatives want for the United States. But staying will have a huge cost too – an enormous human, military, economic, political, and moral price – a cost to be borne mainly by the Iraqi population, the U.S. military, and the American people. The polls suggest that a growing percentage of the latter understand this and are unhappy about it. http://www.progresoweekly.com/index.php?progreso=Max_Castro&otherweek