I was trying to find some simple statistics. I just wanted to know how many troops are there in Iraq, and maybe get that information on a month-by-month basis, so I can update my Iraq vs. Vietnam statistics. Who knew such a difficult question could be so hard to answer?

Anyway, I found a ton of information at GlobalSecurity.org. Let’s look at the page describing the beginning of the Iraquagmire:

The military objectives of Operation Iraqi Freedom consist of

• first, ending the regime of Saddam Hussein. [Done. “He tried to kill my Dad!”]
• Second, to identify, isolate and eliminate, Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction. [Weren’t any there.]
• Third, to search for, to capture and to drive out terrorists from the country. [Quite the opposite; we’ve drawn them in.]
• Fourth, to collect intelligence related to terrorist networks. [Like that intelligence on WMD?]
• Fifth, to collect such intelligence as is related to the global network of illicit weapons of mass destruction. [By beating the hell out of low-level nobodies at Gitmo.]
• Sixth, to end sanctions and to immediately deliver humanitarian support to the displaced and to many needed citizens. [The nation has less electricity, employment, and food since we invaded.]
• Seventh, to secure Iraq’s oil fields and resources, which belong to the Iraqi people. [The nation is pumping less oil since we invaded.]
• Finally, to help the Iraqi people create conditions for a transition to a representative self-government. [The government of purple-stained fingers can’t come up with a Constitution and the resistance to this government is killing dozens of Iraqis each day.]

They forgot a few:

• Ninth, to create conditions ripe for war profiteering by Halliburton and other contractors.
• Tenth, to use fear and warmongering to justify rescinding civil liberties of American citizens.
• Eleventh, to abuse Muslim prisoners in such ways as to ensure a continuing need for War on Terror, thus maintaining conditions listed above to maintain power.
• Twelfth, to show Daddy he’s not a no-good drunk one-term loser who couldn’t pull the trigger on Saddam.