Perspective

When 50 people die in terrorist attacks in London, it's a shock which causes most of the English-speaking world to reevaluate its current stance on terror.

When 50 people die in terrorist attacks in Iraq, that's called "Sunday".

A man strapped with explosives blew himself up Sunday at an Iraqi military recruiting centre, one of a series of suicide attacks that killed nearly 50 people.

But Iraq is grateful for the U.S.' presence, right? Not exactly:

Separately, Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari criticized U.S. and multinational forces for shooting at Iraqi civilians who act suspiciously near patrols or military areas, saying such cases should be handled in a "civilized" way, such as shooting at tires instead of passengers.

No wonder an exit strategy is in the works.

For all the talk of trying to bring freedom to the Middle East, the reality (as so well pointed out all around the reality-based blogosphere) is that the invasion produced nothing remotely resembling a free way of life. Instead, today's Iraq is marked by corruption, violence and hatred - and that'll continue to be the case regardless of when the U.S. and U.K. decide to withdraw.