Gus: In the link in the blog above, the writer says:

" So President Bush will accomplish the same thing Richard Nixon accomplished. He will get more Americans killed, and eventually we will pull out of Iraq. It's not just the casualties that will drive us out; it is the enormous expense, the wear and tear on the Army, the necessary neglect of important domestic problems, and the political divisions at home, which will only grow more exacerbated. "

But one difference between Vietnam and Iraq is the oil. This, my friend, is the catalyst that push little Bushit to ignore history and ignore the reality. His reality is focused on OIL. The rest is irrelevant, including the death of US soldiers, whom, I suppose, he might be sorry about but not enough to understand the devastation created by the imposition of a "democracy" ideal unsuited to Iraq. And further more, even if the Bushit view of democratization of the middle east were right (although this view is bottom drawer choice after the WMDs charade), any fool could see that common sense will tell you that "occupation", "presence", "kicking every second doors in", "driving armoured vehicle", "shooting innocent people by accident fear or whatever", "imprisoning many people without due recourse to the law", "having a safe green-zone heaven for yourself", "using force when diplomacy could do", etc... — yes common sense would tell any fool that only one of these reasons would be good enough to create resentment... Massive resentment. But Dubya is not your average fool, he is the king of fools and on that score Mr Bean pales into insignificance. The problem is that people are dying and it's not a tele show.

 

Quite frankly, who gives a tinker's curse about the US - let's hear it for the poor dead, denigrated, demoralised, dehumanised, devalued and forgotten citizens of Iraq. What about them - many of them are now refugees fleeing their own country. Those who remain are enduring appalling conditions - far worse than what was suffered under the previous 10 years of bombing raids by the US and UK along with punitive sanctions. All because Iraq has what the US wants - oil - and of course a bigger base in the Middle East to appease Israel.

“This is kindergarten,” said Vincent Balbo, the United States Drug Enforcement Administration chief in Kabul, whose office is overseeing the training. “It’s Narcotics 101.” Another D.E.A. agent added: “We are at a stage now of telling these recruits, ‘This is a handgun, this is a bullet.’ ”

...

To fight a Taliban insurgency flush with drug money for recruits and weapons, the Bush administration recognizes that it must also combat the drug trafficking it had largely ignored for years. But plans to clear poppy fields and pursue major drug figures have been frustrated by corruption in the Afghan government, and derided by critics as belated half-measures or missteps not likely to have much impact.

Mr. Balbo counseled patience. Drug wars are long, he said, and there are no quick solutions.

“This is going to take 20 or 30 years,” he said. “D.E.A. has been in Thailand for 40 years. Here, we’re in year two.”

Poppy Fields Are Now a Front Line in Afghanistan War