The Dark Is Afraid of the USA

It seems that with the Khalid Sheikh Mohammed trial starting and the Democratic Primary drawing to a close, the occupation of Iraq is coming back into focus. I hope this is good news; I would really like to believe that the more people think about Iraq, the more likely they are to vote for a Democrat in November.

The conservative blabbershpere does not seem at all worried, though. They seem to be embracing the change, and using it to renew assurances that, no matter what one thinks about starting the Iraq "War", one has to believe in the importance of winning it. Five years in, I've still never heard a plausible description of what a victory in Iraq would look like, but I'm constantly assured that it is of critical importance. Many of the original conditions have come and gone: the fall of Saddam Hussein, a democratically elected government, a constitution. Others are no closer to, if not further from, becoming a reality: a strong Iraqi military and police force, a decline in sectarian violence, and Iraqis embracing Western democracy. What have we accomplished so far? I know the staunch faithful can point to vague stories about schools being built and can find positive trends in wildly fluctuation casualty reports, but how is Iraq better today than it was before we invaded? The people are less safe, they are less free, they are impoverished, they do not have basic utilities, and every day they wake up with the shame and resentment that comes from being an occupied people. Five years into this debacle, there is no concrete evidence of being any closer to any sort of victory. The enemy is not a government or even an organized unit that could surrender or be wiped out; it is a loose, unstructured coalition without any real central command.

What does victory in Iraq mean, outside of a meaningless battle cry to prove one's patriotism? What would it entail? Does anyone actually believe it's possible? The United States is not Chuck Norris. The boogey man does not check under the bed for it, it did not give the sun skin cancer, and it can not create a victory where victory is an impossible notion good for little more than stirring up nationalism. When do we, as a self-governing nation, become a parody of ourselves? Has it already happened?