"Well, it's too late to get any benefit out of recognizing the mistakes that got us to this point. Simply acknowledging them is essential,. "

I could. not. Disagree. more.

We have at most a few more rounds, maybe a decade or two to get this right. If Terrorism, Religious Fundamentalism, and Elimination of concern for the individual is seen by the world, its governments and its people as the winning hand that will elevate them to ascendancy over the west and its philosophical core, then we are doomed. We will be swimming in jihadists. Drowning in fundamentalism.

Now, to narrow to Iraq: Iraq and the processes and thinking that brought us to this point are exactly the flawed thinking that is driving our strategy vis-a-vis the broader 'war on terror', as the people who are driving this Bus literally see and insist that they are one-and-the-same, and part of a coherent strategy. In that much, I'll take them for their word.

So we need to hold feet to the fire, with almost pugilistic means in necessary. I do not intend to let anyone who contributed to the breach here to forget. Its my duty. I don't intend to go along to get along, because the go-along-to-get along with the people who made these mistakes, and their supporters, brought our country to this ruinous precipice.

I'm not going to play nice.

However, I understand and agree entirely that:
" figuring out our next step is what we need to do, not flog the dead horse of past mistakes. Where do we go from here?"

But the Horse is not dead. The horse is alive and kicking. Here and elsewhere. The horse is alive and well in our commander-in-chief, our pentagon and in large media outlets with vested interests. The horse is very much pulling our wagon still.

And we can not forge a new comprehensive perspective to step out into the future and fight the real battles with real means until the ideology/philosophy that brought us here is utterly defeated. The war at home, if you will, that people like you and me have to win.

And I think that the liberals and the intellectuals are delusional if they can win this conflict by acting like classic 20th century liberals and intellectuals. Perhaps its time to tear a page out of the old progressive and populist playbook, so long disused on the shelf- and keep making some noise until the danger to our country is no longer manifest

"at best I can point out that those who have appointed themselves as the guardians of the state are not only wrong, but they have based their actions on assumptions more relevant to their own careers and interests than any vision of history or humanity."

Yes, I believe you, but how much of America believes you? Is that horse really dead?

"The intransigence of our current leadership is based on the fear than any challenge to their competence is an attempt to subvert their domestic economic agenda. This habit, probably a result of the Cold War (when their economic hegemony was indeed being challenged on a global scale!) makes it impossible for them to see any obstacle in terms other than a battle between left and right, socialism versus capitalism. The Iron Age clerics and religious fanaticism of the Middle East are incomprehensible to them except as just a new type of "collectivist" threat. And when their policies fail, it must surely be because of socialist treachery at home"

This is a very interesting analysis. I can't say much more than: 'I'll have to think about that'. You may have really hit a nail I didn't see on the head I didn't know about.

"this is a religious war, but our leadership cannot comprehend this on a fundamental level, no matter how much lip service it lavishes on it."

You are right, it is a religious war, but its also much, much more than that. And that is something that the philosophical construct (the 'horse') running the show does not even understand. If they did, occupying Iraq would have been the last thing they considered.

Incidentally, occupation of Iraq was anathema to this 'horse' when Bush I was in power. Yet, staggeringly, despite the same cast and crew being in power- they ran into this occupation this time like a lamb to the slaughter- blissfully unaware of its fate.

"Religious fanaticism does play a role in American politics, but it was originally mobilized as a force to combat the atheist Red hordes, not as a means of persecuting other faiths (due to the wise and enlightened secularism of the founding fathers). "

There is some serious Irony to that. The Spider to catch the Fly?

"The deep political divisions of the American community make it difficult to come up with any coherent strategy to face the problems which now plague us, and not just the war, but in almost every field. The highly defined, and in my opinion, totally artificial, constellation of issues which now separates right and left, Republican and Democrat, has been carefully devised and reinforced for generations for one purpose only: to ensure that economic status and privilege is maintained."

To an extent, I agree. But its more than just the constellation of bogus domestic issues and dumbed-down-to-black-and-white foreign policy issues that have poisoned the political well in our country- its the exile of reason, the rise of 'passionate-feeling-is-as-truth', the 'contexting' of truth that you have seen me talk about in other contexts. In short, we ourselves are drifting from Information Age values and flirting with Iron Age thinking. Creationism taught as science in the classroom? Theres your real fifth column for you in this struggle. The real Benedict Arnold of this struggle. The Shamans of the Iron age have allies among us.

As to the last:

America is a fantastic idea that has done fantastic things. Not a people, or a religion or a color or a creed. An Idea. An Idea that put men on the moon and performed some of the most moral acts of World History (see: Marshall Plan). I agree with your optimism about America the Idea.

My fear is that the catchall we sweepingly refer to as 'terrorism' (and by this I really mean the Iron Age Ideology that has gone to war with us) is attacking the Idea of america, and that the American people have responded by dispensing with the concept of America in shaping their response (See also: Patriot act).

This is what I mean by the America of Jefferson, Franklin and the Federalist Papers would have won this war without a drop of sweat on their brow, or an excess of blood on their hands.

In a way, I think we are very much saying the same thing- America has been tested, and America has won, and won again. However- I don't think its America who showed up to this exam. I think its this odd-ball ideology of the f*&knuts running this country, and of the die-hard-blow-hards who would rather see America dead and buried than admit the incorrectness of their decisions and philosophies (See also: Habitable Zone).