Mission Accomplished--Not

Another holiday glorifying the military has come and gone with American soldiers fighting and dying in faraway battlefields, with the real purpose getting fuzzier and fuzzier by the day.

More than 3,400 soldiers and other military personnel have been killed since the invasion of Iraq began in 2003. Those that remain are stressed out, injured, and staying longer than they should. Those that came home alive are subject to less than adequate care in military hospitals.

The soldiers came willingly, buying into the fantasies of their employer, President George W. Bush. He believed the world would be a lot better off without Saddam Hussein, and that has come true. Unfortunately, the President also believed that there were weapons of mass destruction, terrorists where none had existed before, democracy flourishing where none had existed before, and victory was within reach. Mission accomplished--not.

We know better now, and it's about to get worse. A "surge" of thousands of new troops are just coming into Iraq, attempting to counteract the surge of sectarian violence that has been plaguing the country lately. Which leads to another surge--in funerals for the ones who don't make it out alive.

All of this will be paid for in a new spending bill passed by Congress and signed by the President. Originally, the Democratic-controlled Congress wanted a timetable for pulling the soldiers out within a year. But the President behaved like a spoiled brat, threatening to veto the bill unless benchmarks for the Iraqi government to get its act together were included. Ultimately, Democrats made like the spoiled brat's parents and let Bush have his bill with no timetables, disappointing the many folks who voted for them last November. Even the noted anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan gave up and went home because of this.

Many more holidays glorifying the military will pass before the next President comes to his (or her) senses and gets the country out of a no-win situation in Iraq once and for all. And maybe behave like an adult.