My thoughts on the Iraq mess and what the US ought to do

I was listening to the BBC World Report this morning, and they were interviewing Iraqis who were very worried about what the Democratic takeover of Congress meant to Iraq. In general, they were happy to see Rumsfeld go, but were a lot more worried about whether the Democratic takeover would mean that the US would go -- which they very much did NOT want to see.

I personally wish that we could just pack up and go home, but I don't feel that we ethically can do so. I find the "Pottery Barn Argument" unfortunately compelling. If you screw something up, you have a moral obligation to make it right again, even if it costs you. The Iraq War is costing us a hell of a lot of lives, and a vast amount of money, and yet, we can't go home, no matter how much we want to.

That said, there is a hell of a lot we can do better, and I want to see the Democrats pushing for those things. Fundamentally, our strategic goal remains the same, now that we actually HAVE one -- make Iraq stable enough that we can go home without the civil war expanding even further. But our tactics have sucked.
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On my emotional state, and how my depression is reacting to medication.

So, a couple days ago, I all of a sudden had enough energy to take care of normal tasks. I was able to mail letters, do laundry, do some cleaning.

And the weirdest thing happened that day. As I was walking to the post office, I passed the donut shop, and considered stopping in for a donut. And I realized I didn't really want one. That totally threw me, so I decided to stop in on the way back from the post office, instead.

When I came back, I still didn't want a donut.

I felt greatly uneasy and disturbed by this. So I went home and ate a tub of marshmallow fluff, which made me feel sick, rather than elevating my mood. (Okay, to be fair: there was like half an inch of marshmallow fluff in the bottom of the tub. It was really only like a half-cup of fluff, not a whole tub. Which makes the fact that it made me feel sick truly strange.)
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More Lis and me conversations

LIS: Hey, I'm hungry. Can you make up more of that rice pilaf you made last night?
IAN: I don't want to deal with food, why don't you make it?
LIS: I don't know how.
IAN: It's from a box.
LIS: You do it, I don't know how.
IAN: You boil water and then put the contents of the box in it.
LIS: I'm feeling dizzy.
IAN: Which step are you having problems with?
LIS: But there was butter or something in it, too.
IAN: *sigh*
LIS comes into the room where IAN is, sits on her chair, and goes into a vertical variation of the fetal position.
IAN: Um. Fine. You know, they had to come up with new words stronger than "pathetic" for you. . .
LIS: Want me to get you a thesaurus?

Yes, I walked all the way into the kitchen, got a box of rice pilaf, put water in a pot, boiled the water, put the contents of the box, and, yes, a pat of butter, into the water, and turned the timer on.

You have to understand: Lis is perfectly capable of doing this sort of thing for herself. She just wants me to feel useful.