View From The Middle
It's Been Over Four Years And I'm Getting Impatient
By Charles Rogers

Well, we wanted Iraq to emulate our form of government. So we jumped right in and set 'em up, gave 'em a couple of houses of parliament and a president and a prime minister and the opportunity to vote and all that stuff and, don'cha know, they did it. They were told what a democratic government is like and, obviously as a tribute to our legislative branch of government, they've already started discussions on when they should start a two-month vacation!

Say what?

Y'know what? I think I'm almost losing my patience. I've gone along with this thing for over four years now because in the beginning - like the Congress that voted for the war - I believed the thing about bombs and other weapons of mass destruction (wmd) being buried all over Iraq. Besides, the Central Intelligence Agency ASSURED us they were there and, hell, it was a slam-dunk, right? Just ask Hillary and the rest. Hey, we all had a chance to believe or disbelieve it when then-Secretary of State Colin Powell, with George Tenet, the head of the CIA sitting nearby, told the world that those wmd's were there and the U. S. of A. would have none of it.

I believed everything about the bad guy Saddam Hussein and it was a pleasure to see that statue knocked down. And it was a big deal when our flying president landed on the U.S.S. Lincoln and walked proudly in his flight suit carrying that futuristic helmet under his arm to stand under the sign that said "Mission Accomplished." That was a neat moment all right!

Even afterwards, when things started to go haywire and we began losing soldiers and finally sent 145,000 of them over there to fight; and now 3,300 are dead and we mourned and continue to mourn with their families, I still went along with the president and the "don't cut and run" gang.

I still believe in that part of the deal.

As President Bush says, we can't go along with the Democratic congress' deal of a timetable on funding the troops. Then the war is indeed lost because all the bad guys have to do is wait until the deadline, at which time we'll just pull out.

Now, though, President Overly Stubborn seems to be getting a little impatient too. Even Vice President Cheney is on that bandwagon, since he got aboard Air Force Two last week, flew secretly over to Iraq, talked to a few generals and then to some local government officials and told them to get the lead out. Good move, but will it help at this point?

No, it's not too late. The surge plan that was implemented two months ago has not had a chance to get off the ground, really. Democrats began pooh-poohing it practically before it started. That's their prerogative, of course, but, in the meantime - and throughout their however short tenure (before that, too) - THEY HAVE NOT COME UP WITH ONE WORKABLE, POSITIVE PLAN!

Once again, I'm losing patience. But I don't quite know what I'm losing patience with! I know the war is wearing on everyone, and we all want those soldiers - all 145,000 of them - to be home as soon as possible. General David Patraeus is strategizing and, yes, I wish him well, even though, um, I'm losing patience with him too.

Congress is making me lose patience because they keep holding meetings and hearings and whatnot and coming up with strategies they know Bush will veto. Then when he does, they let the asterisks hover around their heads and go back into the caucus room and do it again.

I don't want to think about what might happen if we up and leave Iraq right now, as most of Congress wants. We will certainly see much more of a disaster than exists there now - a disaster that will indeed strike us at home eventually. We know the Iraqis can't carry it alone. Remember, there are indeed other things to think of too, such as oil, Iran, our allies in the region. Al Qaeda will begin moving in and start their own buildup, with Iran's help, and then they'll get together and target you-know-who.

According to a report issued Friday from the Associated Press, Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh said he didn't think they would take a long vacation - maybe a month...."Iraqis value being independent and do not take kindly of U.S. officials telling us when to recess," he said.

Yeah. I'm getting impatient.