The public deserves to know how well the War in Iraq is going. And this is very telling:
http://www.obleek.com/iraq/index.html
I was quite well prepared for what I was about to see. I haven't been hiding under a rock (or, as the American Public calls it, Fox News).
But as I continued to watch this fatality count, my jaw just dropped further and further.
And if someone who opposed the war months before it started can see the war in a new light, you can be damn well sure that perceptions are about to be rattled.
(More thoughts below the fold.)
As I watched the clicks rack in, I already had some idea of what to expect. Mission accomplished on May 1st, and the casualties would keep clicking steadily in. Then the infamous surge in April 2004 would make me shake my head knowingly that we always knew this would be a disaster.
But what I didn't expect -- what I forgot was November 2004:
After our election in November, the casualties surge again, and I experienced a different kind of disappointment.
I'm not the squeamish type. I'm not a pacifist. I only need to say "World War 2" to show that sometimes war becomes the only option. And I'm well aware that all wars have casualties. But it wasn't the death that started to make me sick. It wasn't a childish fear of blood that made each death-click rattle between my ears.
It was the depraved political opportunism that made me sick as the counter passed through November 2004. The Bush administration's willingness to put our military goals -- even those found on false premises -- secondary to political polls.
And then I grew yet sicker as the clicks approached May of 2005. I had no reason to think the war was going well since I'd been paying attention to Armando's posts about the frequent casualties. But when the fatalities spiked again, just after the "great victory" of the Iraqi election, as we approach the "last throes", I found a new awareness of not only how dishonest our administration is but how disgustingly "cool" our media is about all this.
And when the clicks finally stopped, at June 20th, I realized that I need to find new kinship with the next wave of Iraq War detractors. Whereas I opposed this War based on the administration's falsified premise, there will be more and more people who join the opposition based on the administration's falsified results. And beyond the dishonesty, the incompetence will bring even more opposition.
With that wave arriving in the next year, maybe as soon as now, I'll continue to shift further and further from criticizing the premise to criticizing the results of this war, in order to focus on concerns that unite all Americans.
But I will always maintain that the coming wave of opposition is more than 2 years too late.