Do you want the US to lose this war?

I am sick of the Republicans asking anyone, who is against the war in Iraq, if “they want the United States to lose the war?” This country has become so polarized and encamped on their respective sides that attacks like this from the right, and others from the left have become commonplace. Now being against the war is considered by many to be synonymous with being unpatriotic and anti-American. Those that believe this couldn’t be further from the truth. I know those that are against the war have just as much love and support for this country and its troops than those that put two “Support Our Troops” magnets on each car they own and still hold the opinion that the US is headed in the right direction in Iraq.

Returning to that question: Do you want the United States to lose the war? This question wrongly assumes there is a possibility of a different outcome. The winning outcome dissipated a long time ago. Some think that it did as soon as we started rolling toward Baghdad, and for others it is different. And still, some think we are winning the war, or they gallantly say we will win this war. I don’t even know what winning this war would mean? We are fighting a people, a culture, a way of life that isn’t going to be defeated, and neither are they going to win. If our enemy had bases, uniforms, and faced off directly with Americans in battle this war would have been over in April of 2003.

As the war continues the world seems to forget about Saddam Hussein and his awful dictatorship. I am sure the world wouldn’t have a problem with dethroning Saddam if his Iraq was as infiltrated by the media as it is today. Before the war we didn’t see much footage of Iraq. People tend to assume things are okay in the countries they don’t hear about on the news. Doubtful it is that people assumed things were okay in Iraq, but the bloodshed wasn’t broadcast every day back then as it is now. Iraq is in the headlines everyday. The country is in a civil war. The media doesn’t call it exactly that, because it isn’t full blown civil war, but it still is civil war. Things were bad before we got there, but the problem is, things are just as bad three and a half years on with no improvement in site. The US can stay in Iraq and keep doing what there doing for years to come, or it can pull out and drop Iraq into a blender of hate, and religious and racial infighting. From those two fates, which one is synonymous with “winning the war”?