For about two solid weeks now the right has tried their hardest to declare victory in Iraq once again. They’ve went so far as to claim that Iraq is no longer an issue of discussion. It’s over, let’s move on. We win, you lose. We’ve heard this all before, of course.
Now that our involvement in Iraq has lasted longer than our involvement both World Wars, the very serious and patriotic people on the right have grasped at anything to use as proof of our second victory in Iraq. Leading the charge is the very serious, tough guy and expert journalist Bill O’Reilly. As with all things American, Bill O’Reilly gets to decide who is a patriot and who is a pinhead. There’s no in-between. You either love America, like Bill O’Reilly most certainly does, or you hate it, like everyone who Bill doesn’t like does. And this week Bill delivers us the ‘Person of the Year,’ Gen. David Petraeus.
Why might Gen. Petraeus, who is the fifth general to command the multinational force in Iraq in as many years, be the ‘Person of the Year’ you might ask. As Bill puts it, “the person must have done something extraordinary, must be a world player, and must have changed history in some way.” And victory in Iraq is Gen. Petraeus’ standard. Wait; make that a near “possible victory.” Bill’s itching to call it a total victory but not quite yet. For now it’s “possible” that victory is within our grasp or it’s resolutely just as possible that five years from now Bill will still be calling everyone a pinhead who expected a little bit better from our president and his advisors than what we’ve been given with Iraq. Incompetence doesn’t begin to define it.
