The Horror....The Horror....Remember?

Not that long ago, it was assumed (by me, among others) that John McCain had no chance of winning the 2008 presidential election because of his stand on the war in Iraq--in case you don't remember, he likes it. Now the war is all but forgotten. As P.Z. Myers says, it has become merely the "background noise of our country."

As we get closer to the election, we should remember that the war is the most important issue facing this country. Perhaps you feel that other things are more important--the economy, maybe, or the environment. But know this--each day that passes with the United States throwing millions of dollars every hour into a giant metaphorical paper shredder (a machine that also shreds lives and families) is another step closer to a time when we'll have no ability to affect the events around us. We'll be that much less able to offset global warming, or to influence the activities of other countries.

Dubya, obstinate as ever, claims that the 4,000 Americans that have died in the war so far are not "lost in vain." He's wrong. But not only have those lives, and the shattered lives of their families, and tens of thousands of Iraqi dead, and the destruction of Iraq been all for naught. The very future of the United States as a world power is on shaky ground because of this vainglorious boondoggle. Don't forget it.

UPDATE: Here. This guy says it better.