3,828 Troops Killed

I was logging onto my email account when I saw on my screen the news that the number of troop fatalities in Iraq has reached 3,828.

I flashed back to conversation I had with a fellow soldier while patrolling a street in Baghdad back in 2004. We speculated on what Iraq would become following our departure. We thought if we ever had to come back it would be for a meager 6 month stay because in time the level of violence would drop significantly.

Oh how wrong we were.

We never would have imagined that 3 years later the number of troop deaths would have more than tripled and a broken U.S. Army would be conducting 15 month deployments in a totally war torn Iraq.

Even more disturbing is that there is no end in sight.

I watched Thomas Ricks last night on Hardball as he predicted that the US military would remain in Iraq for at least another decade in some capacity despite the recent progress report.

Speaker Pelosi has made it abundantly clear that Congress can't end the war without Bush's approval. At the same time she states that Congress will hold this administration accountable for it's failures in Iraq. Needless to say I'm very interested to see how that accountability process works.

I still support Speaker Pelosi, but I'm terribly disappointed with how Congress has been dealing with Bush. US Troops and innocent Iraqis die on a daily basis while Congress continues to pursue negotiations with this petulant, unreasonable, and sorry excuse for a President.

For me there is no defending it because I have been sticking my neck out for quite a while - along with hundreds of thousands of others. I can't count the number of chickenhawks who questioned my patriotism and issued personal attacks against me just for telling the truth about my experience in Iraq. I realize it comes with the territory and I'm fine with it. I know that I'm right and 20 years from now I won't have to look back and wonder whether or not I tried to make a difference when our country was faced with this tragic presidency of George W. Bush. Those of us who took a stand will be vindicated by history.

If only Congress were able to conceive that reality maybe they would fulfill the mandate given to them by the American people in November of 2006.

Given the Bush Administration's demonstrated intentions to continue operating with lies, arrogance, and incompetence I think the time is long overdue for some micromanagement by Congress.

I know that to force the hand of Bush is easier said than done, but this is a life and death situation and time is not on our side.

In closing, I would like to spread the word about an oped written in today's Washington Post.

I served in Iraq side by side with two of the authors of this unimpeachable and sobering assessment of the situation there. We spoke by phone this morning in regard to their oped and I thanked them for their courage to speak out. The most compelling part for me is that these men have no agenda or political ambition. They recognize how unshared the sacrifice is and I believe that is a significant motivating factor for their willingness to write this powerful essay. This is just patriotism in it's purest form - and it's a breath of fresh air at a time when I needed a massive whirlwind.

John Bruhns
Iraq Veteran