League of the Scarlet Pimpernel: Iraq Now and Then

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP)

The Iraq war could be heading to its decisive moment: a battle for the capital of Baghdad that already has turned dramatically bloodier for American soldiers and carries enormous stakes for the country’s future.
At least 13 American soldiers have been killed around Baghdad since Monday — the highest four-day U.S. toll in the capital since the 2003 invasion.

The above article makes the argument that we are just now at the critical juncture in the war in Iraq. I have been to Iraq more than once and have spent many many months, almost two years of my life there. Unless my memory fails me, and in this case it does not, the first time I was in Baghdad I felt relatively secure. On my second trip to Iraq Baghdad was much less secure but certainly infinitely safer and more peaceful than many other places in the country I visited.

Now it seems that we are told that if we can just secure Baghdad we just might have this entire mess wrapped up. I was there during the initial invasion, when I went back some months later I thought humorously of GW's words of "mission complete". I say humorously because I say no decrease in violence. In fact I saw a country where there were pockets that we had no control over. It seems those pockets have moved and shifted over time, much like the sand in the Al Anbar desert to the west of Iraq.

In last 2004 when I participated in Operation Al Far to retake Fallujah (a city we had abandoned completely for a year) I saw things that made me know beyond a doubt that things were far from over. Imagine this, encountering black Africans, fighting against you in the middle of Iraq. One can be certain these fellow were not in Iraq before the war, but they were there in 2004.

Now we say "if we can only just secure Baghdad", three, almost four, years later and we still do not even control the capital. As Johnny said earlier, there was an election with purple fingers all around. As we say just last week the "democracy" the neocons have forced on these people is tenuous at best and just a heartbeat away from a coup.

Let us not forget that 13 American sons died this week alone in a battle to secure the capital of a country we supposedly conquered in 2003: Mission Complete.

Folks need to read history.