Admit It America: " We" Lost This One

From the Huffington Post:

Iraq spins further into disarray. Its president's entourage was ambushed. Soldiers and civilians die daily. The constitution, drafted by Shiites and Kurds, is abhorred by the Sunnis, and still must be voted on in October -- a vote likely to be fraught with more in-fighting and more terrorist attacks, even given the very recent compromise offered by the Shiites. If the Sunnis can't stomach the constitution, it may even be voted out in October, plunging the country into additional darkness -- and not just from the lack of electricity.

At the same time, 1500 additional U.S. troops will be deployed to Iraq over the next several weeks -- in time to help "support security efforts" during the election process -- once again demonstrating our administration's inability or unwillingness to recognize the strategy we're currently following is not working. More troops sent will just put more people in the line of danger.

But is it really fair to say that "we" lost this war? Someone (for a change) has to take responsibility for destroying America's trust across the globe by waging a war based on lies, killing thousands of innocent Iraqis and killing and injuring thousands of coalition soldiers. I know it shouldn't be "us." So, I nominate this asshole:

A reader over at Hullabaloo goes one step further and suggests indicting the entire Republican party along with Bush:

Change:

"We cannot win the war in Iraq and staying could rouse terrorist sentiment against us"

to:

"The Republicans lost the war in Iraq and our continued presence is rousing terrorist sentiment against us."

Digby continues:

I happen to think this has the benefit of being true. The Bush administration lost the war before it began because it was unwinnable as a purely American/British venture. He didn't mishandle it. He didn't misjudge. He lost it.

I know it's unpalatable to use their frame, but I think it's pretty ingrained in the American psyche. We are the ultimate "win-lose" culture. Because of that I believe it is in our political interest and the country's security interests to frame this as a Republican loss. Terrorism is still a threat. Nukes in the hands of bad actors are a very, very serious threat. We are economically and militarily weakened by Bush's response to 9/11...

The GOP has proven in real time, right before our eyes, that they want to start wars but they don't have a fucking clue how to win them. That needs to be reiterated over and over again to the American public. If it sinks in we might just be able to find our way out of this ridiculous national security paradigm we've been in ever since the wingnuts asked "who lost China" back in 48. It created Vietnam and it created Iraq. Enough.

Oh, and by the way: We support our troops. In fact, we'd like them to stay alive so they can defend us against real enemies, not ones created by the Bush Administration.