Most of the advocates of the war in always declare with confidence that we must “win the war” before we begin to withdraw from the proverbial field of battle.

What these people fail to realize is that we already have won the war when we ousted and his brutal regime.

What we have done since, however is “lose the occupation” which has been a disaster from day one when Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said that “looting was okay as it is to be expected.”

An interesting observation to the whole argument of winning the war is…….how will we ever know when the war is over? What measure do we use to determine victory beyond the capturing of Saddam Hussein and the unforgettable toppling of his statue?

We all remember when George Bush stood on the deck of an aircraft carrier under an enormous banner that read "Mission Accomplished" wearing a Navy flight suit and declared that "major combat operations in Iraq have ended." 

The President addressed the crew of the USS Abraham Lincoln stating, "The battle of Iraq is one victory in a war on terror that began on Sept. 11, 2001, and still goes on," he said.

U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D., N.J.) this morning called the claim "a symbol for his reckless handling of the Iraq war," adding, "America has lost more than 3,900 troops and is now spending $3 billion a week on the war," Lautenberg said in a statement. "This is not ‘mission accomplished’. This is a mission gone awry."

And Senator Lautenberg was right!

Think for a moment about the vernacular that is being used to describe modern day events.

In past wars there was always a defined foe and objective so that progress, success or failure could be determined. When the enemy surrendered and objectives achieved, the war was over with a winner and loser usually well defined.

This scenario was obvious in the first and second World Wars when celebrations ensued after the surrenders of Germany and Japan. There was no mistaking that the wars were over and who the winners were.

The invasion of Iraq or “Iraqi Freedom” as it has been called, has not been a war between countries as much as it was the self-willed run riot of George Bush and a pissed off nation seeking revenge for an unprovoked attack on U.S. soil on September 11th, 2001.

Ultimately, it is my belief that we won the war, or at least launched a successful invasion into Iraq but everything that cane after has been a dismal failure no matter how war advocates and military hawks choose to spin it.

NOTE: This article could actually be described as the “semantics of war” which could be said to be a foolish exercise except for the fact that it is those very same semantics that got us in the war….kept us in the war……and responsible for 4148 Americans deaths to date. Only semantics, huh?

AROUND the BLOGOSPHERE:

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When Desertion is a Duty - Robin’s view of the morality of the Iraq war changed not because he learned that the case for it was fraudulent (something no honest person can now dispute), but rather because of the way his training dehumanized the Iraqis he was …