Update: I have another post up that builds on the ideas in this one. You can read it here.

I have grown weary of the anti-war Left in this country. Actually, since they are the same, I should just say the Left. Yes, I have grown weary of the Left’s harping on Iraq and their constant drumbeat of doom and gloom, ala Vietnam.

The MSM is no better. They give credence to far Left fringe groups who lambaste our efforts in Iraq. What they do not tell you is that most of those groups oppose war period. They even opposed the first Gulf War. A war with overwhelming worldwide support and actual support by the UN. If you can not support a war that is sanctioned by the entire world AND the UN, then you will never fight for anything. As a result, their views on Iraq are null and void, yet the MSM enables them to spew their treasonous venom.

I can understand the Left’s disillusionment with the war. It is grim business. I too was disappointed that WMD’s were never found. BUT. Even with all the intelligence failures, the war was and is just and the right thing to do. If for no other reason than for the overthrow of Saddam and the freedom of the Iraqis, the war was and is the right thing to do.

The Left seems incapable of acknowledging the good things the war has brought to the Iraqi people. They are almost rooting for our failure. Oh sure, they support our troops, while at the same time undermining and rooting for failure of our troops mission. That sure is a funny way to support someone. It is like telling your best friends that you support them in their rolls as husband and wife and will do all that is needed to give them the support they need, but at the same time, planting seeds of doubt, fear and distrust in an effort to undermine the marriage. Someone care to explain how that is helpful in anyway?

It boils down to Bush Derangement Syndrome (BDS). I did not coin this phrase, rather it has been known in the blogshere for awhile now. Basically, the Left and the MSM in this country and around the world HATE Bush so much that it has warped their minds. They CAN NOT SEE any good that Bush has done. EVERYTHING is evil that he and his evil minions touch. It does not matter how benign the accomplishment, the Left can not be happy with it, because Bush was behind it. If Bush ran in a 10k race and was the clear winner, BDS would kick in and the Left would find something wrong with his win. Evil Karl played dirty tricks. The track was rigged. He won by too great a margin and therefore was rubbing it in. On and on. It is very pathetic to watch the Left and the Democratic Party implode. The visceral hatred of Bush is beyond any reason.

If someone other than Bush had been President when we went into Iraq, the Left would be different. Especially if the President had a D behind his name. Even when the WMD’s failed to materialize, my guess is that they still would have stuck with the President. But it was not meant to be. However you feel about Bush, he is President now and he made the best decisions he could.

Many of the bloggers on the Right have a hard time figuring out why the Left wants us to fail in Iraq. They point out the millions now living free from tyranny. They point to the end of a murderous regime headed by Saddam. Isn’t that worth supporting? After all, isn’t the Left the party of the little people and of oppressed people? Ah, but you are assuming you are talking to a rational person. BDS is deep rooted. After all, how can you even begin to have dialog with a group that has strong suspicions that Bush was BEHIND 9/11. Go read what they write and listen to what they say. If asked point blank, they will waver, hem and haw and finally, maybe, sort of, say that Osama was behind 9/11. When your opponents STARTING position is that President Bush orchestrated 9/11, there is no hope of talking rationally with them.

Now back to the title of this post. I am obviously being sarcastic and what follows is a continuation of my sarcasm. So help me God, I promise that someone will take what I am about to write and claim I was being serious. Just watch.

[sarcasm]

If the Left and the MSM thinks the current effort in Iraq is analogous to our effort in Vietnam, then let’s play that out. They constantly want a definite pullout date, are constantly referring to it as a quagmire and are actively undermining our efforts to defeat our enemy. So, in that case, they are acting just like they did during Vietnam. Ok, let’s pack up and head home in 120 days. Tell the Iraqi people that they are in charge now and good luck.

Four months from now our men begin coming home. Our military assets are not far behind. Great, no more U.S. deaths! Yay! Bush looks like a failure because he FINALLY acknowledged that he had made mistakes. Yay! The rest of the world nods their head in approval. Yay, the French like us again! In the 2006 mid-term elections, Democrats make huge gains on the perceived weakness of Bush. Yay!

However.

Two months after pullout, Iran actively engages the new Iraqi army, gaining large footholds in the south. The Kurds break away and form their own country. In Baghdad, the terrorists invade the U.S. embassy and the Iraqi parliament. They round up EVERY member of the Iraqi government, line them up against a wall and gun them down. Any surviving government officials flee for their lives. Chaos ensues across the entire country. Meanwhile the terrorists, funded by Syria and Iran and emboldened by their conquest of Baghdad, begin rounding up anyone who helped the U.S. during the “occupation”. These people are tortured in Abu Ghraib. Not naked human pyramid “torture”, but acid baths, beheadings, beatings, burnings, brandings, raping of family members, you know, REAL torture. Those not tortured are executed outright.

Within 6 months Iraq as we know it is gone. There is greater Syria on the West, greater Iran on the East and South and a Kurdish country in the north. Governments across the Middle East begin a massive crack down on pro-democracy advocates. Elections are cancelled and corrupt autocratic rule continues.

At the same time the U.S. is blamed for not preventing the atrocities and for abandoning the Iraqi people. The same Left that demanded we end the “immoral war” now demands to know why we let Iraq be over run by Iran and Syria. Our military is disillusioned and moral is at an all time low. Recruiting goals are not met and there is a massive brain drain when large groups leave the military after their enlistment is over. Funding is cut to the military and we are forced to scrounge for spare parts.

Across the world and in our own backyard, petty dictators once again overthrow stable democracies and impose military rule. Humanitarian crisis rise across the world, yet the U.S. is unable to do much to help.

The prestige and image of the U.S. continue to fall. Culminating in a failed rescue attempt of our embassy staff in some God forsaken corner of the world.

Iran nukes Israel.

There STILL is not peace in Palestine.

China invades Taiwan and slaughters hundreds of thousands.

[/sarcasm]

Granted all the above may happen even if we stay the course in Iraq, but at least we will be able to fight to prevent it from happening. But if the Left keeps insisting that Iraq is another Vietnam then all the above WILL happen, because very similar things happened after we abandoned the Vietnamese people.

Here is my proposition to the Left: Ok, you hate Bush. No, you LOATHE Bush. Fine. There were no WMD’s. Fine. You can even believe that Bush lied about the reasons for going to war. Fine. You can believe he lied to the American people and continued to change his rationale for going to war. Fine. You can even believe Bush was behind 9/11. I think you are off your rocker, but fine.

BUT.

Can’t you at least see that leaving the Iraqi people now, no matter how or why we are there, would be a disaster? For us and for the Iraqis. Can’t you put your hate and your BDS aside long enough to see rationally and to understand the importance of seeing this thing through?

The war has been tougher than most thought. The ferocity of our enemy has been greater than expected. Maybe post war planning was not what it should have been. Maybe we have made mistakes. But millions of people are free now who were not free before. Doesn’t that count for something? Anything?

No, I do not want another Vietnam and I really hope the Left can put aside their sickness long enough to see that they do not want one either. For common decency and respect for human life, we have to stay. Even if you feel that Bush is the biggest terrorist threat to the world and we should have never invaded Iraq, can’t you see that we have to stay? Lives of hundreds of thousands depend on Iraq being stable before we leave.

Our enemy is watching and learning from us. If we leave now, the long term damage to the Iraqi people and to our own security will be severe. If you think we will be safer once we leave Iraq you are right if you mean our troops but wrong if you mean us civilians.