Some of Y'alls Are Comin' Home

So said W to the nation tonight in what no spin master can dub as anything but an admission that the war in Iraq is not worth the continued loss of life and erosion of America's influence as a force of peace and change.

On the one hand, great for the soldiers who are coming back home and for those who won't be sent back. But what about those who didn't come back? And I mean the dead as well as the maimed.

For many on the Right, troop withdrawl reeks of surrender. For those of us who were opposed to this war in the first place, it just screams bloody murder. Why the hell did we send thousands of young men and women to die in a place that doesn't want our help? Why was 9-11 used as an excuse to bomb Iraq when our best friends the Saudis were the ones behind the attacks on New York and Washington?

And you know what kills me? This generation's kids are probably going to backpack through Baghdad and Basra and will read about this war in their Lonely Planet guide book with no idea about the anguish its put us all through. At some point our nation's attention will shift from Iraq and our military prowess will be focused on a new enemy. Who will it be? Venezuela? Iran? Sudan? Everyone except heterosexual WASPs?

The troop withdrawl doesn't mark anything except the slow diversion of our own over-funded military to another target. Watch out.