With Iraq today in danger of falling to well-armed Islamic extremists bolstered by Iran, thought I'd share this slightly tightened version of the column I wrote six months after we invaded that nation in March 2003.
"I've withheld my opinion on the invasion of Iraq in the belief that, by waiting, my thoughts would not be construed as kneejerk or politically inspired. But I know it's time to speak my mind.
"As an independent-thinking American, I'm deeply troubled by the ill-conceived path we've chosen and blindly continue to follow. My impression of America since childhood has been that it is the most honorable, compassionate and high-functioning civilization on this planet.
"The blood we're shedding in Iraq today doesn't reflect those ideals. Facts increasingly show we contrived a reason to dive headlong into a primitive, dog-eat-dog world where brute force and fear have prevailed for centuries.
"My discomfort has only swelled each week as we've learn more about the official falsehoods and exaggerated claims upon which we based our dubious involvement in such a quagmire.
"You may recall that even before we invaded, I was expressing an 'unpeaceful, queasy feeling' about what we were doing and why. I also wondered just what would happen after we devastated that nation.
"Even the likes of Colin Powell, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, who seem to have been running our republic for the past year, were saying publicly that they didn't know what would come later because they hadn't thought that far ahead. Why hadn't they?
"Now you and I and our grandchildren are living with all we've wrought. The world is feeling the consequences with every headline about freshly killed or injured American troops, as well as all the innocent Iraqi causalities. Terrorists and their recruits from throughout the Muslim world are having a high-fiving field day with their buried road bombs and RPGs.
"Does any adult believe we will be out of Iraq in four years, even after throwing 87 billion more of our hard-earned tax dollars down a rat hole? Frankly, I see nothing improving for the unforeseeable future. Among the few things these bitter lunatics don't lack are weapons, TNT and a long, long time.
"We must remember that in another four years, many of today's 14-year-old extremist Muslims will be 18-year-old freedom-fighters and suicide bombers eager to rid the Arab world of us infidels in the name of their god.
"I was actually embarrassed to watch the president of the United States, who represents you and me and our nation's ideals, strutting across the flight deck of that aircraft carrier in a tightly tailored GI Joe costume.
"Our previous presidents, while commanders-in-chief, have never seen fit to don uniforms in wartime offering photo ops for self-aggrandizement. None I can recall has ever been that flagrantly insecure. I also can't recall any president publicly using his personal 'mission from God' religious convictions to justify an American attack against another nation.
"Does that concern anyone else since extremist Muslims use the same rationale to fertilize their killing fields?
"These United States of America have never needed to rely on appearing to the world as a nation of religious extremists or testosterone-laden bullies to make our strengths known. We've had far too much integrity, honor and self-reliance to feel the need to prove it by performing for cameras.
"We stormed into Iraq and destroyed much of the infrastructure, along with many innocent Iraqi lives. But in your heart of hearts, did you ever really foresee any other outcome in this made-for-TV miniseries of a war? Not me. I only wish I'd felt better from the beginning about what we were doing.
"I'm deeply proud and supportive of our soldiers, who are dutifully following orders, but I wish I could find some peace--make that any peace whatsoever--inside my heart with this beast of a predicament we have spawned in Iraq. Even should a new administration replace what now controls us, at this point I cannot see any honorable way out of this dark and treacherous cave.
"Our loyal soldiers will continue to suffer or die. And regardless of how much money we throw away, you'll never convince me a democracy can succeed in a place of such historic fear and hatred, especially one with Swiss-cheese borders.
"In antique stores across Arkansas, it is understood that if you break an item, you've bought it. Well, my friends, we broke Iraq into many pieces and now we've bought it with at least $87 billion worth of our precious resources.
"And I fear what we already have sacrificed in American blood and resources has been like taking the first step into Carlsbad Caverns."
Say, ya suppose Ringling Brothers might be in the market for a fortune-teller?
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Mike Masterson's column appears regularly in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Email him at [email protected]. Read his blog at mikemastersonsmessenger.com.
Editorial on 06/17/2014