"Waste" Used in the Wrong Context

I was just over at ThinkProgress, and I ran across this quote from the “Dick” himself (Cheney) regarding the deadline approaching for us to remove troops from Iraq:

“I hope Iraqis can deal with it. At some point they have to stand on their own. But I would not want to see the U.S. waste all the tremendous sacrifice that has gotten us to this point.“

Sorry, but the “waste” of 4,316 American lives (as of this writing) prior to this moment rests fully on him and Bush. They wanted to get us into a war and, by God, by hook or crook, they did it. Never mind the lives permanently lost because of their desire to overthrow Hussein. These chicken hawks should be held accountable for every one of those lives.

I’ve written about this a couple of times in the past. We need to get out and stay out of both Iraq and Afghanistan. No ifs, ands, or buts. Period.

How dare Cheney use this excuse for staying put? We’ve acted like bullying conquerors, invading a nation with no good reason. I repeat…no GOOD reason. This pre-emptive bulls**t doctrine that Bush fomented years ago is totally outrageous on its face. I realize this has been gone over and over, again and again, but what right do we have to decide some country will attack us in the future; therefore, we must attack them first? To play the tape to its conclusion, that means we can attack ANY country, because, who knows, fifty or a hundred years from now it could be our enemy. Might as well attack them now, just to be safe!

We are now a permanent war state, ladies and gentlemen. Obama has picked up the ball and is running with it in Afghanistan. And if you think that we will be completely out of Iraq any time within the next century, I’ve got a bridge to sell you in Florida.

“Tremendous sacrifice,” my ass. Better to cut our losses (and not "waste" any more lives) and become the country we should be. One that leads the world in freedom and democracy. Unfortunately, we have to clean our house big time before we can get to that level of respect from the rest of the world. And we should start by punishing those responsible for murdering over 4,000 American soldiers and hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis and Afghanis. Bush and Cheney shall be first.

I want us working on our own problems (and we have many, to be sure), and when another nation asks us for help, we will lend an altruistic hand in friendship. Every country has the right to its own sovereignty. We should NOT impose our will nor force ourselves upon it. Hegemony should not be our mantra.