Iraq: If Only We Knew Now What We Knew Then

Well, it’s about time. Finally, here's a guide to Iraq, written for American military personnel. "A Short Guide To Iraq" contains basic words and phrases in Arabic, some local customs and it warns about cultural pitfalls for Americans to watch out for. “You aren’t going to Iraq to change the Iraqis. Just the opposite. We are fighting this war to preserve the principle of ‘live and let live.’”

The book is full of other common sense advice about trying to adapt and fit in when you're in a foreign country. Since we didn’t have this information five years ago when we were planning the Iraqi invasion — well, there's no sense wallowing in 20/20 hindsight. No harm, no foul. Oh, wait. This book was written in 1943! It was a guide for American servicemen stationed in Iraq during World War II. We already had this information!

We already knew! When Heartattackfuck was spewing out “we will be greeted as liberators,” this information was already 60 years old. “Democracy will flower in the Middle East” when we march in and topple their dictator?!?!?!? Did these Neocon masterminds have some sort of ulterior motive all along, or are they all dumber than a bag of hammers?

Here are some painful contrasts between our World War II leaders and the pitiful shitstains who hijacked our foreign policy five years ago: The author says, “the people who wrote the 1943 booklet—and by extension the government behind them—wanted two things: they wanted to win the war and they wanted to do it honorably. That is, they did not want to sacrifice or shortcut American values, and if we thought we were better than the Nazis, we had to prove it to our allies.”

How far we've plummeted. Our country has fallen and it can't get up.