Trying to get one's mind around the Iraq problem is like trying ... well, there is no ready simile. It's like trying to understand someone else's deepest troughs of torment, consistently getting slapped in the face over the effort, while facing the growing threat that others, neighbors, will be so affected by the spectacle that their own torment will unleash and roil, creating a whirlpool of chaos that not only would catch you up in the middle but would provide new energy for antagonists already devoted to your destruction.
And that doesn't even begin to approximate the situation. There are truly no good options, only "less bad" ones. The poles in the debate which should be brewing are "victory" (in a very watered-down sense compared to original ambitions) or "admit the obvious": this war is lost, the logic and dynamics of the conflict itself will dictate the outcome, and we have precious little control over it. To take a position, one first has to have answers, and there are none that are truly satisfactory, especially for an outsider, who is left to his or her basic orientation ... and speculation. Indeed, this method of forging policy from the raw materials of our psyches without hard answers might be argued to be "creating 'reality' out of hopes not facts." The unfortunate truth is that facts win out every time, though often discovered too late.
I am dismayed over the juncture where we now stand. Someone has to negotiate this mess -- we must do it -- but the present "decider" has proven himself to be singularly inept with these materials, principles and ideas. And there is no reason to expect an epiphany -- an awakening, a seeing of the light, where all disparate elements come together in sharp focus in a creative (read "best possible") solution.
