SCREWING UP A TWO CAR FUNERAL PROCESSION

This is a good NC expression and one that aptly applies to our misadventures in Iraq. Truly, to me, it is as though a gaggle of bureaucrats, meaning the powers that be said before we got involved in Iraq, "OK, how can we f... this up?" Well, on every hand, they have. No use for me to count the ways but one that is dear to my heart is one that surfaced last night on Sixty Minutes. The story had to do with how we have treated those who have helped us. In this case, the Iraqis who threw in with us immediately after the invasion. Based on "the clan" in this case, the Insurgents, mainly Sunnis targeted this group of people for their crime. And, their crime: helping the Americans. So, who do these people look too when they realize they are in danger and their families are in danger. They look to the Americans. They come knocking and guess what: we ain't home. It is shameful.

VIETNAM REVISITED

For years, a sizable number of Vietnam veterans (I surely don't speak for all Vietnam veterans) have felt a collective guilt because we ran off and left the people. The feeling of despair in watching the helicopters on the American Embassy roof has stayed with us all our lives. In fact, several of us formed a "non profit" to try to give back to the Vietnamese something to assuage our guilt. It was only a token, building a school in Vietnam. But, we could take pride in what the country did for those Vietnamese who did get out. At least, the "powers that be" then stepped up to the plate and resettled over 130,000 Vietnamese in a few months. And, who can forget the baby lift. Over the years, it has made me proud. And, according to the Sixty Minutes Program, at first there seemed to be opposition but then as Americans who cared saw those poor Vietnamese refugees getting off the plane, the opposition melted. America gave it a shot then of doing what we could.

NOW, nata, nothing: those Iraqis who have risked hteir lives to help us, we have squandered the good will by doing nothing. Nobody is home. Now, the people who were in the decision making positions, Colin Powell and Condi, guess what, not home. And, why, well, they want to blame it on 9-11. There has to come a point when we realize that everything can't be blamed on 9-11; potholes aren't filled, 9-11; traffic is a mess, 9-11; the stock market up/down, 9-11; houses are selling/not selling, 9-11; stop lights not working, 9-11, Walter Reed, a mess, 9-11; gas prices out of sight, 9-11; toilets overflowing, 9-11; illegal aliens, 9-11; good/bad weather, 9-11; commute, good/bad, 9-11; spying on citizens, 9-11; not accepting Iraqi refugees who helped us, 9-11. Get the picture?

What is so sad is that it takes the news media to point out the obvious. Lord help us.