So This is What "Victory" in Iraq Looks Like?

If you are an American who cares at all about your country, the image above and the related story below ought to make your blood boil...not in anger against the Iraqis but instead against President George Bush the Lesser and every other American government official who was responsible for getting us into that trillion dollar quagmire. As an opponent of the war since the very beginning, I've waited nearly nine long years for this day to come, and yet I am unable to take any joy in it whatsoever. From the belligerent anti-Iran rhetoric coming out of the Republican presidential campaign, it is clearly obvious that a substantial number of Americans have still not learned the lesson that not only does America do a piss poor job trying to be the world's policeman, we can't afford to do it anymore anyway.

Hundreds of Iraqis set alight U.S. and Israeli flags on Wednesday as they celebrated the impending pullout of American forces from the country in the former insurgent bastion of Fallujah.

Shouting slogans in support of the “resistance,” the demonstrators held up banners and placards inscribed with phrases like, “Now we are free” and “Fallujah is the flame of the resistance.”

Surrounded by the Iraqi army, demonstrators carried posters bearing photos of apparent insurgents, faces covered and carrying weapons.

“Those who destroyed Iraq paid the price because the people here held them accountable.”

The demonstration, which was held in Al-Khadra Mohammediyah Square in the centre of Fallujah, was dubbed the first annual “festival to celebrate the role of the resistance.”

The United States is due to pull out the last of its troops from Iraq by the end of December, more than eight years after the invasion to topple Saddam Hussein.