Bush is getting recipes from all sides for his 'all new' Iraquagmire Stew. He says he's "making good progress toward coming up with a plan that we think will help us achieve our objective".
I know I'm not spilling the beans to my knowledgeable readers who know that how so many people the Decider 'listens' to, his decision will not be fixed in his mind until he hears from the last person who speaks to him. And we all know that's always the very patient Dick Cheney. This process of cooking up America's next bowl of Mess-o-Potamian stew won't be over until Darth Vader whispers.Until that moment arrives, the media's headlines will string us along in suspense? NOT!
Personally, I would bank on the veracity of General William E. Odom's Six Brutal Truths about Iraq which Indicted Plagiarist was good enough to post in a comment on my 17-December column.
William R. Polk, co-author of the brand-new monograph, Out of Iraq, makes this Informed Comment about the inadequacies of the Baker-Hamilton recommendations, in part:
. . . The Americans must learn that when a bully falls down people gather around to kick him while he is down, not to offer help.
. . . . what Arab nations would be likely to contribute troops to the proposed international stabilization force? And how could it be assured that these troops would remain under UN control and not act on behalf of their donor nations?
. . . . positive element in Baker-Hamilton is the admission that we need to get out of Iraq. The negative aspect of Baker-Hamilton is that it does not realistically face what that means. What it does, understandably given its origin and composition, is to attempt reach a compromise. Such compromises, of which diplomatic history affords many examples, are attractive because they preserve reputations, cover over mistakes and seem statesmanlike.
All of the king's horse thieves and all the king's pundits cannot put Bush and Cheney's pottery barn back together. They have simply broken too many pots.As I suggested in these pages on December 17, hanging out in Iraq there is no shortage of thugs with well-armed gangs who know how to fight. They may not be disciplined units at the moment, but they will gain discipline and credibility faster than any of the so-called Iraqi police and armies drawing our pay and serving at our beck and call.
That's the bare-naked basics of 'regime change' anyway: exchanging one regime with another, replacing one thug with another.
There are rumors that Saddam will be summarily executed, perhaps this weekend. Personally, I oppose the death penalty, but only on abstracted pragmatic grounds. In this case, however, removing Iraq's Tony Soprano with dispatch may be helpful in expediting history. The thug is dead - long live the thug. Remember the Bolsheviks' seemingly pointless execution of the Romanovs? As long as the trappings of the deposed regime's thugs are allowed to hang around, future thugs are less disposed to make their moves.
That's what we need to have happen in Iraq, ASAP!
We need to get out of their way, so Iraqi thugs can select a future thug-in-chief and we we can stop being their godfather.
There are way to many cooks in this soup.
ReplyDeleteBush has not seemed to change one iota though.
He always planned on going to Iraq , and destroying it , and then keeping it for a while.
It`s obvious that Bush is a nut.
He is a pawn for vested interest.
I think he is listening to the oil industry lobbyists the most. Then a hierarchy of other special interest groups , that have enjoyed , good times , to the max with our destruction of Iraq , and Iraq`s society.
Bush probably took all that 'Whore of Babylon' stuff seriously , when he was going to his Bible Class Study , that his inner circle also almost all attend.
Dry drunk anyone.? More trouble ahead.
I've got more consultation to do until I talk to the country about the plan.
ReplyDeleteI fully understand it's important to have both Republicans and Democrats understanding the importance of this mission. It's important for the American people to understand success in Iraq is vital for our own security.
I'm making good progress toward coming up with a plan that we think will help us achieve our objective.
My mom had a bunch of different names for what is generally called now hamburger helper but it always tasted the same. I see less a new recipe for Iraq coming from them and more a rehashed "stay the course" but new and improved with more troops added.
ReplyDeleteIf George Bush had consulted George Washington for advice, he would have been told that all his various schemes for Iraq were "founded on Malice, Absurdity, and Error".
ReplyDeleteI am still trying to figure out why we are buying the line that now that the Baker group has completed the study, now that the election is over, now that almost three thousand troops are dead, the President is NOW, FINALLY, holding meetings to come up with a new plan.
ReplyDeleteWhat happened to "Adapt to Win"? What happened to "Stay the Course"? What happened to every other line that we have been fed.
Why are we giving the President a pass while he meets with others. He is not learning anything new. He is not hearing anything novel. He is not meeting with newly discovered experts or sources.
He is waiting. He is delaying. He is stalling. He is abdicating. For as long as he can. His speechwriters need all the time they can get. After all, it isn't easy to come up with "Surge and Release" as the new catch phase.
Personnally, I like "Ebb and Flow." But I wasn't asked. (Ebb before flow, of course....)
With the delay, Bush will now be able to build/reiterate the new catch phrase in both his "uber-speech" and the follow-up State of the Union. If there is too much time between the speeches -- if, say, Bush had given his big speech in mid-December -- the press would have calmed down well before the SofTU and his latest spin would lose momentum.
On the detail Saddam's execution: There's no chance of Bush pulling out of Iraq without Saddam's head, (attached or unattached to his body). Iraqis are not to be trusted with anything, LEAST of all, Saddam's custody!
ReplyDeleteSaddam Hussein, Thanks for the memories....
ReplyDeleteGood pick on Joe Ellis's contemporary rendition of George Washington, Emily. The Daily Kos leads with it today! But we read it first, here!
ReplyDeleteThey have simply broken too many pots.
ReplyDeleteBut they have enriched the pot makers and the glue makers, and that's all they really care about.
Saddam's execution made me think "Vengance, thy name is Bush."
ReplyDeleteThe death penalty is about vengance, nothing more. It says more about who the executioners are than the convicted.
It won't help Iraq. And by executing Saddam on the eve of a major Sunni holiday, it will probably make things much worse.
I think we need to figure out why we went there in the first place. There were no WMD's and it wasn't a terrorist haven [although it is now] nor is it a place for vampires to spend their tired days. Is it really true as Skip and some maintain that we are there to "enrich the pot makers and glue makers?" (Thx MD)
ReplyDeleteSo, if not that, why in the hell do we stay? What do we win, if we win, which we won't? Is it all about "ein volk, ein Reich, ein Fuhrer"? Does Bush really think he is the annointed "leader" of this benighted country? Is it his destiny to lead Mesopotamia into the promised land? You know: the land of Bush, bullshit, and broken dreams?
Finally, it is true that the death of Saddam H. will do nothing to further the cause of the "causer" a.k.a. the "decider". All it will do is inflame the wound and spread the infection. Happy New Year!!
I'm a vengenced crazed lunatic:
ReplyDelete..i'm so glad you show reason.
To all your readers: no surrender in the struggle for universal peace
and humanity