There's a seminal scene in the 1986 movie Aliens which seems frighteningly appropriate right now.
The platoon of Colonial Marines, armed to the teeth with the most technologically-advanced arsenal of firepower known to man, wanders into a nest of deadly, unstoppable creatures. Unfortunately, they don't realize this until it's too late; the walls begin moving, and suddenly the entire scene dissolves into complete chaos as the marines come under attack and begin firing blindly -- screaming for instructions from their commanding officer, who's sitting safely at a control center, frozen, terrified, and watching his troops being picked off one-by-one by an invisible and overwhelming enemy.
The marines are pinned down and desperately looking for a way out, while the commanding officer, shaking, issues timid and impotent instructions. As this is happening, the only person with any sense in the room is yelling at him, "GET YOUR PEOPLE OUT OF THERE!"
This morning, Iraq is reeling after a series of coordinated bombings that killed more than 200 people and wounded at least 250 others.
It was the single deadliest attack since the war began.
I can't express this in strong enough terms: the next person to say that Iraq is better off without Saddam Hussein, or that the media needs to focus on the "good news" coming out of that country, should promptly be handed a weapon and dropped in the middle of Sadr City.
There simply isn't a word in the English language for what Iraq has degenerated into. "Hell" comes to mind -- but maybe a more apt description is "nothing;" Iraq as we've known it has ceased to exist.
I seem to remember that toward the end of Aliens, that commanding officer redeems himself as best he can by paying a terrible but necessary price for his arrogance. Needless to say, nothing so just will happen in this case.
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