Still Batting .000

Another swing and a miss for Ross Douthat.

Plenty of war-skeptics are unconvinced that Iraq’s recent stabilization will deliver a happy outcome in the long run. But the surge smoothed the way for withdrawal, which is what the war’s critics have wanted all along — so why rock the boat?

Because people are still dying over there, you jagoff. They're dying over there needlessly, they're dying over there because the choice to go over there was a needless and stupid mistake that has cost countless lives, and oh yes, there's the whol people are dying thing. You're acting like the war is over and everything's fine, and all that left now is to edit the history books, clean up the bar and lock the door on the way out.

It's not over yet. It'll be years before it is. Hell, Al-Maliki wants us to stay. We ruined that country. For decades, that place is going to be a hellhole and they rightfully can blame America for inflicting that hell upon them.

We never should have been there in the first place. Period. This "well, both sides made mistakes" crap is self-serving twaddle. Some of us said this was a bad idea in 2003, and we've been saying it ever since.