Bush's 4th Of Ju-Lies

Today in West Virginia, Bush claimed that Iraq is the last battlefield in the "war on terror", but that idea is simply naive. Because the war in Iraq happened, there will be many more battlefields. A little truth managed to come out of Rumsfeld's mouth the other day when he said the U.S. occupation of Iraq could last 5, 6, 8, 10 or 12 years (technically, he was talking about how long it could take to defeat the insurgency, but that appears to be equivalent to maintaining the occupation). If the U.S. presence in Iraq could last that long, how can Bush assert that Iraq will be the final battlefield? Bush further shamed himself by trying to link patriotism and the "spirit" of Independence Day with support for the war in Iraq. Once again the Bush Administration would like to equate dissent with a lack of patriotism. This is simply ridiculous. Why is it patriotic to blindly support an illegal war that has never had a suitable number of troops nor a viable exit strategy ("completing the mission" is not an exit strategy, it is a hollow phrase that allows for any necessary interpretation at a later date)? It is less patriotic to give blind support to an Administration intent on dismantling civil liberties, the freedom to have (or not to have) a religion that differs from the President's, etc. So, on the 4th of July, my patriotism is expressed by opposing the undemocratic, illegal policies of the Bush Administration, not because I hate the country, but because I love it and I feel obligated to help change things when the country has gone astray.