One of the problems I have is a lack of brevity - I tend to overcomplicate and overanalyze. Howard Zinn, on the other hand, does not.

Q: What should the world know about the United States?

HZ: What I find many people in the rest of the world don’t know is that there is an opposition in the United States.

Zinn says “corruption” of the US system enabled Bush to win office [EPA]

Very often, people in the rest of the world think that Bush is popular, they think ‘oh, he was elected twice’, they don’t understand the corruption of the American political system which enabled Bush to win twice.They don’t understand the basic undemocratic nature of the American political system in which all power is concentrated within two parties which are not very far from one another and people cannot easily tell the difference.

So I think we are in a situation where we are going to need some very fundamental changes in American society if the American people are going to be finally satisfied with the kind of society we have.

Seeing the U.S. through the eyes of the rest of the world is important, since the rest of the world isn’t too happy with U.S. policy at the moment. We’ve been jabbing everyone else with pointy sticks for far too long.

I wish I could summarize this well:

The power and influence of the United States has declined rapidly since the war in Iraq because American power, as it has been exercised in the world historically, has been exposed more to the rest of the world in this situation and in other situations.

So the US influence is declining, its power is declining.

However strong a military machine it is, power does not ultimately depend on a military machine. So power is declining.

Ultimately power rests on the moral legitimacy of a system and the United States has been losing moral legitimacy.

I’d never heard of Howard Zinn till I read this al-Jazeera article. Good stuff. We need more thinkers like this guy to present points of view that are clearly legitimate and are currently being mostly ignored. Two parties which are not very far from one another - the base problem in our country right now. Thanks for that summary Mr. Zinn.

Perhaps the most important statement Mike has made on the topic of Iraq is:

One of the main reasons we made so many mistakes in Iraq was that high officials in the Bush Administration were often afraid of the truth and viewed a serious foreign policy question with ideological blinders.  Instead of honestly appraising the facts on the ground, they saw only what they wanted to see.  And instead of encouraging candor and even dissent, they ignored or attacked those who disagreed with them.

How many have died needlessly because of arrogance? It is criminal. Absolutely criminal. And the immense suffering of Iraqis was prolonged and enhanced needlessly because of a few bureaucrats and their immense ignorance and stubborn insistence that they were the only ones who knew what was right for the people who live in the birthplace of civilization.

Mike’s article contains some very important thoughts, and as usual, is honest and well worth the read. Please take the time.

There is no way to know how many American lives were lost in Iraq due to the tortures we inflicted upon Iraqis at Abu Ghraib and other places.  This is no argument of moral equivalence.  I have seen the atrocities committed by al Qaeda and other terrorists, and I am not saying that Americans have ever come close to those acts.  New Yorkers saw the atrocities of al Qaeda, as did many others.

Yet, when we tortured detainees, we lost something very important, something that America and its allies need in order to prevail against terrorists, not just in Iraq, but all over the world.  We scarred our honor.

Whatever you think of the invasion and occupation of Iraq, I will not judge you for your opinion. What I am interested in doing is making the best of a bad situation. I think that Michael Yon has the same goal. Torture, in any form, is a moral abomination that is not justifiable. Using torture to win is actually losing. Go read the article and see if you don’t agree. The Bush Administration has been wrong from day one on this issue.

Michael’s voice is one I give some authority to, since he has spent more time than most on the ground, among the troops actually doing the fighting and policing and rebuilding.

One of the biggest problems with the Iraq War is that politics has frequently triumphed over truth. For instance, we went into Iraq with shoddy intelligence (at best), no reconstruction plan, and perhaps half as many troops as were required. We refused to admit that an insurgency was growing, until the country collapsed into anarchy and civil war. Now the truth is that Iraq is showing real progress on many fronts: Al Qaeda is being defeated and violence is down and continuing to decrease. As a result, the militias have lost their reason for existence and are getting beaten back or co-opted. Shia, Sunni and Kurds are coming together — although with various stresses — under the national government. If progress continues at this rate, it is very possible that before 2008 is out, we can finally say “the war has ended.” Yes, likely there still will be some American casualties, but if the violence continues to drop and the Iraqi government consolidates its gains, we will be able, in good conscience, to begin bringing more of our people home. I will be paying very close attention to the words of Lieutenant General Raymond Odierno, who is replacing General Petraeus as the overall commander in Iraq.

I served in the war from 2005-2006, as you know if you’ve read this blog for any length of time. I am also a libertarian. Therefore I have mixed feelings about this war. While I believe troops must stay until Iraq is stable, there are still many questions that need to be answered. Primary among them - were there really WMDs when we invaded. If so, where did they end up? I have always thought Syria was the answer. Of course, seeds of doubt have been planted as to whether Saddam actually had any WMDs after the 90s. I know from personal verification that small quantities were found.

While we rebuild the country we broke and try to make it better in the process, we need to examine the mistakes made leading up to the war. We need to continue to ask ourselves if the motivations for invading were just or just concocted. War is an ugly and terrible thing that should never be entered cavalierly.

We’ve mortgaged so much for the war in Iraq. We need to demand some accountability both in the short and long term. Unfortunately, I don’t think we’ll get the levels of accountability I expect - anymore than Congress will suddenly start diligently working together to actually improve the “land of the free and home of the brave.” Iraq is stabilizing, and that is good.

What would have been better is if we had a plan when we went in. We could have avoided appointing arrogant officials like L. Paul Bremer. The Bush administration has done an abysmal job of representing itself in the public arena. Yet some voices still claim that Saddam had the weapons and the intent that would justify our invasion of Iraq. The voices are ignored or dismissed.

Iraq is still a question mark on the world map. History (and the politicians who write it) have not yet cast final judgment. I will be watching and waiting. Where do we go from here?

Whether you are for or against the occupation of Iraq, this editorial is well worth reading and carefully digesting.

The change goes far beyond the statistical decline in casualties or incidents of violence. A young Iraqi translator, wounded in battle and fearing death, asked an American commander to bury his heart in America. Iraqi special forces units took to the streets to track down terrorists who killed American soldiers. The U.S. military is the most respected institution in Iraq, and many Iraqi boys dream of becoming American soldiers. Yes, young Iraqi boys know about “GoArmy.com.”

As the outrages of Abu Ghraib faded in memory – and paled in comparison to al Qaeda’s brutalities – and our soldiers under the Petraeus strategy got off their big bases and out of their tanks and deeper into the neighborhoods, American values began to win the war.

One year of my life gone forever in that nation. My feelings about our “imperialism” are very mixed. I am proud of my service in Iraq although I do not pretend to know what the future holds for that nation. We are nearing a pivotal moment - the change of command here will affect the course of 26 million lives there. I’ve long held the opinion that it will take decades to ensure real changes in the Middle East. The changes will have to be generational. A complete withdrawal now would certainly be a mistake.

Should we “surge” some more? I leave it to you to decide. Michael Yon is certainly a subject matter expert. He knows the troops, he knows the political climate, he understands the Iraqis and he has spent more time on the ground and in the thick of things than almost any American I know. That doesn’t mean his conclusions are correct, but they should be carefully considered.

I spend a lot of time bitching on this blog. I don’t really regret it, because I’m generally bitching for a reason - I hope to find others out there in the big bad world who feel similar to the way I feel, or who might change their minds and come around to my way of thinking on issues that matter.

As a former participant in the occupation of Iraq, I have very mixed feelings on that particular political morass. I think we have noble intentions and are generally doing things the hardest and most expensive way possible over there. Perhaps that is the only way to go about waging a war that really intends to change a culture. I’m not an expert, just a guy who went and came back.

The war in Iraq is so muddled and mischarecterized. Sometimes, even the people waging it have no idea what they are doing, where they are going and why they have to be there. It’s easy to lose your humanity in an environment where every moment might be your last moment.

That is why I am also touched to read stories like this one:

Ammar Haddad Muhammad, a 5-year-old Iraqi boy, and his father landed on time Saturday night in Charleston, S.C., to begin the process of getting life-saving surgery thanks to help from a Gainesville Marine.

There are certain things that I hold dear and honor when I see them. War can make us so tired. It certainly did in my case. Marine Major Kevin Jarrard, no matter his other human qualities, should be held up as an example of the kind of men we need when we wage war. In the midst of strife and conflict, he has twice reached out to remind Iraqis that they are just as human as we are and that we value their lives because we value all human life on general principle.