Najaf, Chechnya......what's the difference?

When the Iraqi US war started, or should I say when we started the US, Iraqi war, I was quoted as saying that Bagdad will be another Chechnya. Well it turns out I was wrong. But not by much. The Iraqi people are resisting our occupation. Who could blame them. The situation in Najaf is getting worse by the day and will continue to get worse. If the insurgents have not gone by now they are not going to go anywhere. The United States seems reluctant to move in to the city and root out the rebels. This is due to the fact that Bush cannot have another setback in Iraq if he wants to win this election. As long as he keeps the bad news spread out somewhat, the American public can take it. All it's going to take is 20 or so guys getting killed in some kind of dramatic fashion, such as a helo crash or some kind of botched operation al la Mogadishue, and Bush is toast. Now I am not wishing for such an event. I hope things work out over there. The only problem is that things cannot work out over there. The strategy is all wrong. First of all we are shoveling money over there hand over fist and getting nothing in return. Our guys are getting kicked around over there. Halliburton is skimming off of the top and subcontracting the real work over and over until you have a peasant with a cart and a pick building the school for 50 bucks. The Iraqi military that we have trained are a disappointment to say the least. In fact they even fired on our guys! These rats will turn on us in a heartbeat if the conditions permit. Want to know the right strategy? Well good for us its already too late to do the right thing. The right thing was to involve our allies in this mess. It seems the UN is good at negotiating peace treaties and hammering out details about nation building. We are good at neither. Our allies would have been shouldering the burden of troops and money, plus we would have looked more like peace keepers than occupyers. Now who knows what is in store for us in the years ahead. Certainly more trajedys will unfold for the Iraqi and American people. God Help Us.