Progressive Democrat Issue 121: IS THIS WHAT REPUBLICANS CALL VICTORY: We are losing Iraq and Afghanistan

I have written in the past how Republican Sentor Bill Frist, in a tacit admission that we have largely lost in Afghanistan, was suggesting that we ask the Taliban to join us in governing Afghanistan. Yep...we want those al-Qaeda allied religious extremists to save our asses in Afghanistan.

Then I reported that the Iraqi government, the people we put into power, are so desperate to find someone who can help restore stability to Iraq that they are recruiting former Baathists (that's Saddam Hussein's party and the party that runs Syria) to rejoin the government. Since America can't stabilize Iraq, it seems that Iraqis want a return of Baathists to power.

Now it seems like the Iraqi government isn't alone in desperately seeking Baathists. According to Yahoo News India, US and Iraqi officials both confirm that we are asking Baathists to return to power. But we aren't just recruiting ANY old Baathists. We are recruiting members of Saddam Hussein's Iraqi intelligence service, those people who CARRIED OUT the torture and human rights abuses under Hussein.

This is all happening because we are LOSING THE WARS. Under OUR watch, terrible things are happening and life is WORSE than it was under the dictators. We are sinking deeper into the Iraq quagmire. This is illustrated by two BBC News headlines today.

From BBC:

US attack 'kills Iraqi children'

An attack by a US helicopter against suspected insurgents in Iraq has killed a number of children at a primary school, Iraqi security sources say...

One police officer said the helicopter was shot at from the ground during the morning.

The school was said to have been hit when the aircraft returned fire.

And, from the other war:

An American commander [US army spokesman Col John Nicholson} in Afghanistan has said that he is "deeply ashamed" by the killings of 19 Afghan civilians by US Marines in early March.

He said that the military had paid condolence payments to the families in the eastern province of Nangarhar.

Western forces have been accused of carelessness over civilian lives when attacking the Taleban and their allies.

It has become a major issue, with Nato recently saying that its biggest error last year was killing civilians.

Civilian casualties are unavoidable in war. And I do believe that by and large America DOES do what it can to limit civilian casualties, unlike some nations and rebel groups we can name where targeting civilians is part of the game. But when the enemy is pretty unclear as to why we are even there and what we want to accomplish, each and every civilian death just makes one or two or ten more enemies. When you start to be seen as an occupying force rather than as liberators, each and every civilian death creates a new blood feud. At least in Afghanistan the commander seems to understand the problem and he is offering the families both an admission of wrong and what amounts to blood money. That is within the social structure of many cultures. If you kill someone's relative you have to either fight the person's family or you have to humbly ask forgiveness and compensate the family. I give credit to Col John Nicholson for playing by the rules of the region. But we are still seen as an occupying force that has ceased to be liberators.

We have dug ourselves so deep into the quagmire that we can no longer afford to inflict civilian casualties, no matter how "unavoidable" it is from a military viewpoint. Diplomatically it has become impossible for those we claim to be liberating to accept the death of their relatives at our hands.

So, to all those Republicans who keep telling us that the McCain/Bush/Lieberman escalation will bring us victory, I once again have to ask just what the hell kind of "victory" are they talking about. Bringing BACK al-Qaeda's allies in Afghanistan and Saddam Hussein's most despicable henchmen in Iraq looks like VICTORY to Republicans? Just WHOSE victory are they talking about?

As always I urge you to write the media to express your opinion. Particularly in cases like this where something pretty important seems ignored by American media.

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