What's Wrong with the War in Iraq?

Here's the answer, from General Wesley Clark, former Supreme Allied Commander of Europe, who retired as one of the nation's most highly decorated military officers.
During his 34-year career in the U.S. Army, he served in Vietnam, Latin America and ultimately was named NATO's Supreme Allied Commander, where he led a unified force to victory in NATO's first major combat action. Clark commanded all NATO forces to success in the important Kosovo conflict, saving 1.5 million Albanians from ethnic cleansing without a single Allied casualty.

Bottom line: Clark is the voice of experience and he makes it clear that Bush's incompetence is why the war in Iraq is a disaster.

Click here to watch highlights from General Clark's keynote speech.

"Supporting" the Troops, Bush Style!

Thanks to the incredible success of the Iraq war, recruitments are down, and deaths are up. But hey, no problem, says the Washington Post, because the commanders have found a new source of manpower -- the insurgents!!

Equipped with arms from the U.S. and a generous supply of cash, the former Sunni insurgents are joining American troops in whatever it is we're doing over there. The bottom line: we are arming and financing Sunnis with what the Post calls "murky allegiances and shady pasts. " How shady? Many of them have ties to "al Qaida in Iraq," one of the administrations's favorite fear-mongering names.

U.S. generals said they vet the backgrounds of every recruit, but ground commanders here said that is all but an impossible task.

"Officially, we will not deal with those who have American blood on their hands," said[Lt. Col. Robert] Balcavage, 42. "But how do you know? You don't. There's a degree of risk involved. A lot of it is gut instinct. That's what I'm going on. They didn't teach me how to do this at West Point."

Hollywood Goes to War

The documentary "No End in Sight" (mentioned in the previous post) has plenty of company. Hollywood is releasing a number of high-profile feature films dealing with the war in Iraq, says the New York Times, and without exception, the focus is on the downsides -- devastated families, stressed-out troops, horrendous "collateral damage" to Iraqis. Oscar-winning writer/director Paul Haggis ("Crash"), for example is completing work on In the Valley of Elah, based on the true story of an American soldier, Richard R. Davis, who was murdered by members of his unit. “This is not one of our brighter moments in America,” Oscar-winning writer-director Paul Haggis told the Times. “We should not have gotten involved.”