WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE...

Iran has announced a new deal with Iraq.  Iraq has agreed to purchase $14 billion worth of natural gas from Iran.  The deal will allow Iran to generate much needed economic activity and enable it to put a dent in sanctions imposed by the West to punish Iran for its pursuit of a nuclear weapon.  Officials in the State Department say they are concerned Iraq is helping Iran mitigate the sanctions and reduce the pressure on Iran to abandon its nuclear plans.

    Wait...I'm sorry...isn't this the same Iraq we "liberated"?  Isn't this the same Iraq about 5,000 Americans gave their lives to secure?  This is the Iraq George Bush assured us would welcome us and throw flowers at our feet so overjoyed would they be because we deposed Saddam Hussein right?  One trillion tax dollars later, hundreds of thousands of wounded Americans later, one million dead or wounded Iraqis later, the efforts of this nation on behalf of the people of Iraq are being repaid by the Iraqi government making a deal to strengthen Iran, our enemy, at our expense.  Am I missing something?

     What do we say to the parents of all the dead and wounded Americans?  George Bush was asked by Cindy Sheehan to explain what her son died for in Iraq.  He could not, or would not, answer her then, what would his or Cheney's response be today?  We went to war in Iraq and Iran won.

     Iraq is allowing Iranian planes to fly over its airspace to supply the government of Syria with weapons and troops.  We know Hezbollah fighters are in Syria and fighting for the Syrian government.  We have asked Iraq to refuse Iran permission to transgress their air space.  So far, Iraq has refused to do so.  Every day there are more new reports of how the government of President Maliki, a Shiite, is building alliances and close ties with Iran.  The same Maliki continues to restrict freedoms and build towards a possible dictatorship in Iraq.  Al Qaida in Iraq is flourishing and crossing over the border in Syria to further inflame the civil war and set itself up to fill a power vacuum at some point in the future.  If you were a parent who lost a child in Iraq, how would you feel to watch them thumb their noses at us and the memory of Americans who paid the ultimate price for what now appears to have been an effort to create a Shiite bloc extending from Iran through Iraq into Syria and Lebanon?

     The same people who wanted us to militarily involve ourselves in Iraq now want us to do the same thing in Syria.  Will we never learn?  Senator John McCain still touts his support of "the surge" in Iraq as the reason we "won the war".  What did we win Senator?  We replaced one dictator with another.  Al Qaida is alive and well in Iraq.  When Saddam was in charge, Iran was marginalized and had little influence.  Now the State Department issues warnings about the growing influence of Iran throughout the region.  Can you say Pyrrhic victory?

     Those who opposed the war in Iraq predicted almost everyone of these outcomes...predicted the rise of Iran...predicted the chaos which would ensue between Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds...predicted Iraq would move closer to Iran and predicted the rise of an authoritarian government.

     The State Department says it is making inquiries about this gas deal between Iran and Iraq.  Could they sound any more pathetic and powerless?  America was taken into an immoral war by Bush/Cheney and the gang...a war of liberation to protect us against Al Qaida and weapons of mass destruction and $1 trillion later...5,000 dead Americans later...hundreds of thousands of physically and mentally wounded soldiers later...a broken military later...our "friend" is in bed with our enemy.  Will we learn any lessons from this?