Once upon a time, the world trembled at the might of the US arsenal. Boasting the best trained, best armed, and best funded fighting force the world had ever seen, the perception of US invicibility was at its strongest. Its zenith was the war in Afghanistan, where a handful of special forces and air power, alongside the Northern Alliance, made efficient mincemeat of the Taliban.
The illusion of military invincibility was so strong, in fact, that Saddam caved under heavy pressure to allow UN weapons inspectors and destroy missiles that may or may not have violated UN sanctions -- just days before the US invasion.
The illusion of military invincibility was so strong, in fact, that the neocons bought it hook, line and sinker.
The key to maintaining any illusion is ensuring that it can't be shattered. And there was no better way to shatter the illusion of US military might, post-Afghanistan, than to place it squarely in the center of a conflict it couldn't hope to win.
Remember, Saddam could barely keep his country under control with nearly a million men under arms and the tools of repression. We have neither the manpower, nor the will to become despots ourselves, to maintain control. And if the world has learned something this past week, it's that Americans bleed like soldiers from any other country. Their helicopters can be shot down. Their tanks can be destroyed.
Sure we'll kill more of them. Lots more of them. But body counts don't give an accurate score of the conflict. There are plenty more Iraqis to take the place of the ones we kill. And the invader is always at a disadvantage -- especially when facing an insurrection with broad popular support.
It's only a matter of time before we pack our bags and head home, leaving behind one serious clusterf-. Where we once had an impotent and defanged secular dictatorship which was a sworn enemy of Osama bin Laden, we'll have Afghanistan redux -- perpetual conflict, destabilization of the Middle East, a haven for terrorist groups, and at best, an Iranian-style militant theocracy.
Our nation has advanced too far to tolerate the levels of casualties we're starting to see (74 in April thus far, or more than 6 per day average). This isn't WWII. We're not fighting Hitler. We're fighting a broad-based popular revolt by people who want us out of their country. Even our so-called allied local militias have turned on us. We have no friends but the Kurds, and they're happy carving out their autonomous region in the north and preparing for future (and inevitable) war with Turkey.
We said we invaded to oust Saddam and destroy his WMDs. Well, Saddam is gone and there were never any WMDs. Our reasons for staying are now seriously in question. And as we continue to rack up "collateral damage" in our quest to supress the revolt, we fuel the flames of anti-US hate and terrorism.