Our guns, their people

The U.S. has officially handed over control of combat operations in Iraq. General Raymond Odierno, the top U.S. commander in Iraq attended the ceremony to watch the final American combat team, the 4th Brigade of the 2nd Infantry Division, transfer power over to the 6th Iraqi Army Division.
The number of US troops is said to drop from 64,000 to 50,000 by September 1st. This wonderful news comes amid a terrible cluster fuck of a time in Iraq. Between us just plumb losing billions of dollars to continued violence and crime, we're not exactly handing over a sterling example of democracy's finest fruits. It's more of a fumbling hot potato we're tossing over and saying, "uhhh, here - we couldn't figure this one out. sorry bout the invasion. bye!"
Don't get me wrong. I think we should get the fuck out of there asap. However, I think we also need to call it what it is. Mission is not accomplished. War is not won. Democracy is not spread like a phoenix rising. We need to get the hell out of there and then work on diplomatic solutions to bandage our blunders. The longer we stay, the more we earn the reputation of being a bully and general pain in the ass. Odierno said that he felt the US had come a long way, accomplished a lot and reminded us all that we're there to improve the lives of John and Jane Iraq. Awwww, how sweet.
Gosh golly, that makes me feel a whole lot better!
No. Something smacks of bygone days with this. Who else did we give weapons to and train and then...oh...right.
Would it be so far out of line to ask the Iraqi army that we fucking disbanded (big fuck up there) to take it from here...I mean it kinda is their country. And what if, what if we just admitted that we had fucked up and try to open up the doors of diplomacy instead of having dumbass ceremonies to show how awesome we are for handing over a country that isn't even ours back to those who really own it.
And to read between the lines of all the pomp and circumstance, they may have their "combat operations" back, but what does that really mean in the grand scale of a country? Oh, right. Jack squat. It just means that they get to look all nice and pretty holding a giant gun while we sit in the Green Zone passing Dinars back and forth, soaking our feet in oil and eating McDonalds.
There are a lot of burned bridges, and we shouldn't be just passing guns down the assembly line. The fact still remains that we are in control of that country, and we haven't handed over anything but a nice ceremony and handshake. And the fact still remains that training people in the art of blowing peoples heads off is not diplomacy, it's playing with fire, literally.