by Ed Kociela

When the American people care more about the feud between Donald Trump and Rosie O’Donnell than in an escalation in the war in Iraq, you know something is terribly wrong.

But, there it is on television each night — The Rosie vs. The Donald.

While our children continue to die in a hostile desert.

We’ve lost it.

We lost it when the president went with about a half-dozen contrived stories for his invasion of Iraq.

We lost it when private companies with direct ties to the White House were awarded contracts in Iraq without a bid.

We lost it when the United States sent troops into Iraq that were not adequately equipped with protective armor.

We lost it when the Patriot Act was passed.

We lost it when the president allowed New Orleans to become less than a poor village in a Third World country.

We lost it when we allowed the de facto Iraqi government to try Saddam Hussein instead of an international war crimes tribunal.

We lost it when the Democrats pledged that impeachment will not be a part of their strategy.

We lost it when the Democrats promised to reach across the aisle in an act of bipartisan cowardice.

And, today, the president will tell the world that he wants to send another 20,000 troops to Iraq — primarily Baghdad — and about $1 billion to use for creating jobs.

We lost it, period.

The United States can no longer hold onto its once honorable place as the leader of the free world, the beacon of democracy, the defender of liberty, the ally of human rights while this Nowhere Man makes all his Nowhere Plans for Nobody.

Those plans include not only sending more forces into Iraq, but apparently more unbridled attacks, as the air strikes against Somalia indicate.

Those plans include ignoring all conventional nuclear treaties by pushing to develop a new nuclear weapon, even though it would mean a new round of nuclear testing that would poison a whole new generation of innocent Americans as the radioactive fallout rains down on them.

And nobody does anything about it, even though the current polls show an abysmal approval rate for the president and his Iraq atrocities.

What will it take to mobilize the forces of good within the United States? Where is its conscience? Where is its soul? Where is its humanity? Those who sit idle share the guilt for doing nothing while men and women of good will are cast aside by a power that is growing more and more out of their hands with each passing moment.