THE SUNSHINE BOYS

During the halcyon days of Shock and Awe in March, 2003, we savored our cakewalk in Iraq and chuckled at the ludicrous Iraqi military spokesman affectionately known as “Baghdad Bob”. While the Iraq government crumbled, Baghdad Bob proudly proclaimed how the mighty Iraqi army was winning the war while inflicting severe casualties on the American invaders.

It is not funny, however, to see and hear his American counterpart, Senator and presidential candidate John McCain demonstrate how Baghdad is becoming safer by strolling into an outdoor market previously visited by deadly bombings. Wearing military protective gear, McCain was accompanied by a hundred American soldiers and several helicopters and airplane gunships. The pictures of this surreal scene gave the lie to McCains’s absurd words on success of the recent American escalation in Baghdad.

America is inexorably being bombed and shot out of Iraq. Only the delusional posturing of administration officials and their water carriers in the Senate like Mr. McCain allow the daily carnage of two more dead Americans and a dozen or so injured to go on indefinitely.

Baghdad Bob, move over and make room for your soulmate, Baghdad John.


Originally published in Glen Ellyn News, April 25, 2007