Bunker Mentality

President Pinhead says he has no doubts about launching the unpopular war in Iraq despite the "high cost in lives and treasure," arguing that retreat now would embolden Iran and provide al-Qaida with money for weapons of mass destruction to attack the United States.
What were you expecting him to say? "Whoops! My bad!" Sorry, but that won't be forthcoming anytime soon. As we mark five years since our initial invasion of Iraq, the U.S. casualties creep every closer to four thousand with countless more wounded and maimed, military and civilians alike. And the treasure? Try five hundred billion dollars and climbing. That's a lot of bouillon, chicken or gold.
"If we were to allow our enemies to prevail in Iraq, the violence that is now declining would accelerate and Iraq could descend into chaos," quoth the Pinhead. I wonder just what his vision of chaos is, or if he truly sees the current situation in Iraq as stable. All of this leading to his punchline: "An emboldened al-Qaida with access to Iraq's oil resources could pursue its ambitions to acquire weapons of mass destruction to attack America and other free nations. Iran could be emboldened as well with a renewed determination to develop nuclear weapons and impose its brand of hegemony across the broader Middle East. And our enemies would see an American failure in Iraq as evidence of weakness and lack of resolve."
All of this emboldening makes me shiver. Or maybe it's the fact that all of this bluster comes hard on the heels of a Pentagon study that found no pre-Iraq War link between late Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and the al-Qaida terrorist network. Add this to the embarrassing-for-anyone-else revelation of "Whoops, no weapons of mass destruction," and you've got massive potential for egg on your face.
But not our Pinhead. "In Iraq, we are witnessing the first large-scale Arab uprising against Osama bin Laden, his grim ideology, and his terror network. And the significance of this development cannot be overstated ," he said.
I imagine a bunker in Berlin, April 30, 1945. Just before der Fuhrer popped his cyanide capsule and put his Walther PPK pistol to his temple, he probably said something like, "No one would argue that this war has not come at a high cost in lives and treasure, but those costs are necessary when we consider the cost of a strategic victory for our enemies." Bang. End of story.