Vietnam and Iraq -Bush learns lessons from history. From what school?

President Bush’s speech at the VFW Convention in Missouri was laced with comparisons between Iraq today and the Vietnam war ( link to BBC story) and that the lessons of history for him were many such as, "The price of America's withdrawal was paid by millions of innocent citizens." Mr. Bush, you still don't get it. If we didn't go in to Iraq in the first place, we wouldn't be discussing your premise that we can't leave. Your arguments for staying in Iraq are irrational and illogical and demeaning to intelligence of the American people.

Also in the speech Bush had warned "a US withdrawal from Iraq could trigger the kind of upheaval seen in South East Asia after US forces quit Vietnam." Mr. President again you don't get it. The kind of upheaval in the Middle East today has been caused by your invasion in the first place and to end the upheaval, we must leave. Listen to the well-respected fellow Republican Senator John Warner. He has been the military's most ardent supporter. He says we should announce we are reducing troop levels in a few weeks. Of course Mr. President, you are not moved by reality but by your own version of truth. And since you have lied to us so often and with the repetition of someone not wanting us to forget the message, even you have come to believe those lies as dogma. I don't know which God you truly pray to, but that God seems to love war, not be compassionate to those truly suffering, and is strange bedfellows with the almighty dollar. If I remember sir, aren't those the attributes of the one driven out of heaven?

Even your earlier suggestion, that the Iraqi people should consider replacing their leader because their government wasn’t working for the benefit of the people and that Iraq’s Prime Minister Nouri Maliki wasn’t getting the various constituencies to form needed compromises, was an interesting idea. Can you give us some ideas as to how we could get you replaced too, as obviously we are having similar problems right here in the good ole US of A. under your leadership or lack thereof?

Iraqi elections- Isn't it time again?

Seems like it's time for another round of mid term elections in Iraq. Now that Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has quit the Parliament maybe it's time for ordinary Iraqi's to decide if they are on the "right course" or if a change in leadership is needed. Al Maliki has the support of President Bush but Moqtada al-Sadr is removing his support of the leadership. And add to that Al Sadr is the most popular figure in Iraq today and you can see what a problem is created here for the U.S., as well as the Maliki government. All this is happening at the time of the "surge". The issue for Al Sadr is when will U.S. troops leave? He has called on his people to protest in the streets peacefully to make a big statement to us and his own government. Moqtada al-Sadr reportedly has over 60,000 in his militia according to CNN reports and hundred's of thousands of other supporters.

An election of even minor parliament figures could change the balance of power within the government and this in turn could lead to some necessary changes and decisions by the Iraqi government. It could also provide the clarity for us as to when we should leave Iraq. The main stream media will position Al-Sadr leaving the government as a bad thing. It really isn't, as that is how change takes place in a democracy.