DEFEAT? WHAT DEFEAT?

Because I consider myself to be of somewhat limited intelligence when it comes to what goes on in the world, I seldom venture to write anything insightful about politics. But on the train this morning I read an article (a very short article, because the source of all my news is Metro, in which all articles adhere to a 30-second readability time limit) that quoted John McCain as saying something to the effect that if we pull out of Iraq it will be a demoralizing defeat for the US military. This started the wheels turning.

Defeat? At the hands of whom? Didn't we already win? Wasn't the stated objective at the beginning of the war to remove Saddam Hussein from power and make sure there were no weapons of mass destruction that could possibly one day in the future be used against the US? Well, Saddam is no longer in power. And to my knowledge, Iraq has no atomic bombs or anything of the sort. So technically, haven't we already won the war?

I guess it depends on who you consider the "enemy" and what you consider the "objectives" of said war to be. As previously stated, it was originally presented that the enemy was Saddam and his army; and the objective was to protect the American people from WMD. Defeated and done. We should be chalking up a W and bringing our boys home. But for some reason we're still talking about experiencing defeat? Why?

Hypothesize with me for a minute. Let's say that the government, as far fetched as it sounds, misled us as to the actual purpose of the war. Let's say they were really fighting another enemy. An enemy known as "high oil prices." And the real objective in this war was to ensure that a US-friendly, stable government will take over in Iraq and provide us with a steady flow of oil. If that is the real enemy and objective, then yes, it's possible we could still be defeated. Which is why we're still meddling amidst all of this unrest in Iraq. What McCain meant to say was that if we withdraw before the US-installed government of Iraq promises to give us all the oil we want for "helping" them win the war against Saddam, we will experience defeat.

This is certainly not my own original line of thought. Nor do I think it’s such an outrageous left-wing theory as to warrant dismissal. Just think about it. And wait until I get going on Guantanamo Bay. Jesus. That is one fucked up situation.