End the Charade

I opposed the War on Iraq. But even if I did support it, I'd wonder now why we're still there. As Vox Day writes,

It will take years, perhaps a decade or more, before it is possible to determine ultimate success or failure in Iraq. But by some measures, the dual invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq have certainly served their purpose. The Taliban and Saddam Hussein have been driven from power and they have been replaced by elected governments that are no less legitimate than our own Washington plutocracy. What, then, prevents the president from declaring victory and bringing our soldiers home? Why was it necessary for 266 Americans to die after the Jan. 31 election of a free Iraqi government?

And finally, if free elections are not enough to assert victory, what is the definition of success? Does one even exist? The metrics, nebulous as they are, appear to keep changing.

The danger is that the conspiracy theorists were right and that this was nothing but a steppingstone to a Middle East empire from the start. Michael Ledeen, the brilliant neoconservative, has been pleading for an expansion of the war to include Iran from the very start – the drums beginning to beat slowly in the media deep would appear to suggest that he's finally going to get his wish. "Faster, please"? I don't think so.

One of the great mysteries of World War II was how Germany did not go on an industrial war footing until long after the die had been cast. Ironically, although the War on Method has now lasted longer than the War in Europe, the United States has not only refused to go on a war footing, but disdains to even bother declaring war, while maintaining almost completely open borders, the better to serve enemy combatants.
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It is time to end this charade. The troops have won the war, history proves they cannot impose a nonexistent peace. Bring them home.