The Friggin’ Obvious Award

General Abizaid finally managed to find his ass with both hands yesterday and admitted that Iraq might be on the brink of a civil war. I mentioned this to my wife across the kitchen table. Her reply: “No shit, Sherlock!”

With the daily body count spiraling upwards and only 35% of Americans believing it has been worth the cost in dollars and lives, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki appeared before Congress last week asking for more money and to keep our soldiers in Baghdad. News flash people: we’ve spent over $301 billion to date in a war that could easily last another decade. Just ask Rumsfeld, who predicted a 12-year run back when Bush was gleefully calling himself a “war President.”

To say we’ve overextended ourselves in Iraq doesn’t begin to describe the orgy of spending, bombing, spending, rebuilding, and — oh yeah — more spending. And what the hawkish GOP knows is that it’s the Americans in diapers who will get stuck with the bill.

Up in Connecticut, Joe Lieberman may be the first Senator to wake up and smell the coffee. Lieberman is being challenged by an anti-war Democrat. Why? Because Lieberman can’t admit that this war is dragging America to the poorhouse and creating more terrorists than we can kill. Democrats have senior leaders who are preaching the truth: Senator Harry Reid and Congressman Jack Murtha, who both publicly oppose the war and have the ears of Washington. Can someone please change the batteries in the Democrats’ hearing aids?

Meanwhile back in Baghdad, Three years after Bush declared the war won, the average daily death toll from all sides has risen from 20 per day in 2003, to 36. Sectarian violence including hideously creative bombings, kidnappings, and executions continue to increase. Even worse, our soldiers face mounting accusations of murders, rapes, and executions. The fact of the matter is this: America wants to see this end soon, like today. Meanwhile the Republican leaders of this military spending spree are running lose with our credit card.