No, I don’t believe building democracy and “staying the course” in Iraq is a lie. Do I think our intentions are completely honest, no.

And before we criticize knee jerk right wing reaction to the general in question, we have to understand why the blogger is frustrated.

Hmmm… I don’t know, GI.

When there is a growing number of retired generals (now, including the former head general) claiming the war is being poorly directed and has little hope of any military success, don’t you suppose there might just be something to it?

Or… if we actually have that many retired generals who have no problem lying to hurt the military and support some leftist agenda, maybe we have an even bigger problem, eh? No telling what number of lying scumbags fill the ranks now… hmmm.

When these guys were in a position where they HAD to publicly agree with civilian leadership (or they would get Shinsekied) everyone championed them as great leaders and believed them no matter what obvious nonsense they said (as is now being done with Patraeus).

But, suddenly, when they are free to speak their honest opinion about the direction of the war (based on being senior military leaders with more military scholarship, training and experience than any politician involved in running the war) everybody wants to call them disgruntled liars and traitors interested only in getting publicity.

One could wonder if people no longer take a minute to contemplate probabilities before jumping on the manufactured bandwagon these days.

It is likely that the political goal of Iraq is not necessarily to “win” militarily… or establish democracy… or provide human rights for women or some minority tribe… or locate weapons of mass destruction… or punish them for causing 911… or any of the other stuff the media pushed down our throats with a straight face.

If our real goal is to control the oil, keep selling treasury bonds, insure oil is traded in dollars, maintain a huge presence in the heart of the Middle East which is only a short-range bomber away from any anti-American monkey business… or keep the aliens in the basement of the Denver airport where they belong, we can lie to the world and cover it with words like Stay the Course to Freedom and Democracy.

Yes, we can lie to the world… even if they don’t believe it.

…but these days, we are mostly lying to ourselves.

And we are believing it.

And that IS a problem.

J!

You’re not killing my buzz, Sonagi!

Whoa… stomach’s rumbling. Gotta hit the toilet. Looks as though I’ve got a “special visitor” of my own about to arrive!

Kevin