fighting them over there so we don't have to fight them here.. .

Sorry to go off topic, but as regular readers know I do the Today in Iraq post on Sundays, so Iraq is on my mind -- which it should be anyway.

You won't get any insight into what's going on there from TV news or even your local newspaper, so here's a simple truth. The U.S. Army is now engaged in a low-grade war with Shiite militias, particularly those associated with the Sadrist movement, which is part of the Iraqi government and was a key ally of the U.S. in installing its desired candidate, Nuri al Maliki, as Prime Minister. Elements of Sadrist militias are a major component of the Iraqi security forces which the U.S. is "standing up," supposedly so we can "stand down" -- I guess that's after we get done exterminating them. These groups are mortal enemies of al Qaeda and its sympathizers, which consider them apostates and are engaged in killing Shiites in Iraq in large numbers, while the Shiite militias are trying to kill them. The Sadrists major grievance with the United States is that it is occupying their country and attacking and killing them.

This is why our young people are dying and getting their limbs blown off. For the sake of utter, pointless insanity. The really bad news is that even if the Democrats take one or more chambers of congress in November, the maniacs behind this murderous folly will still control the armed forces and will continue without any meaningful opposition -- unless it comes from an aroused citizenry.