The dark cloud around the silver lining
Nothing like the possibility of having ones ass kicked to get something done. In the past few days we have seen a major retreat in the "war on terrorism" from the Bush administration.
First, the W actually conceded a comparison between Vietnam and Iraq, but added rather lamely that he thought it was timed just to influence the upcoming elections. That bit of news was followed by reports of the still-unreleased report from the James Baker-Lee Hamilton commission on how to get out of the situation that we find ourselves in. Strangely, one news outlet reported that "Iran & Syria need to take some responsibility for the stabilization of Iraq".
Hello?
Does anyone remember last month when those two countries were the embodiment of the devil and our sworn enemies? This month, someone is calling it "taking more responsibility" instead of "waving bye bye as our sorry beaten asses pull out".
This is almost too much to comprehend.
In case you haven't noticed, I have never been a Bush fan, didn't vote for him, don't respect the man a lot, and have always thought that the war in Iraq was at best a tragic miscalculation and at worse a grandiose effort to reshape 20th century history, but I never thought that it would come to this.
By some reports, we have killed off anout 2 1/2 percent of the Iraqui population, destroyed much of the infrastructure that was only marginally supporting most of the people, toppled a government that was a pain in the ass, but did keep Iran and Syria at bay, and have paved the way for extremist Islam to take full control of the Persian Gulf.
And to think that two weeks ago, our President and the ruling party were preaching vehemently that we should stay the course.
What happened?
This cannot be the product of a couple of sex and bribery scandals, and the agitation created in the blogsphere. Are things really that bad, and is the government really that good at hiding it?
There are a couple of you that read this semi-regularly. If you have any thoughts, I would like to hear them, here in comments or by email. i really believe that we are not seeing something, I just can't figure out what it is.
The tune today is dedicated to the W.
To be completely truthful, for today anyway, I pity the man.
First, the W actually conceded a comparison between Vietnam and Iraq, but added rather lamely that he thought it was timed just to influence the upcoming elections. That bit of news was followed by reports of the still-unreleased report from the James Baker-Lee Hamilton commission on how to get out of the situation that we find ourselves in. Strangely, one news outlet reported that "Iran & Syria need to take some responsibility for the stabilization of Iraq".
Hello?
Does anyone remember last month when those two countries were the embodiment of the devil and our sworn enemies? This month, someone is calling it "taking more responsibility" instead of "waving bye bye as our sorry beaten asses pull out".
This is almost too much to comprehend.
In case you haven't noticed, I have never been a Bush fan, didn't vote for him, don't respect the man a lot, and have always thought that the war in Iraq was at best a tragic miscalculation and at worse a grandiose effort to reshape 20th century history, but I never thought that it would come to this.
By some reports, we have killed off anout 2 1/2 percent of the Iraqui population, destroyed much of the infrastructure that was only marginally supporting most of the people, toppled a government that was a pain in the ass, but did keep Iran and Syria at bay, and have paved the way for extremist Islam to take full control of the Persian Gulf.
And to think that two weeks ago, our President and the ruling party were preaching vehemently that we should stay the course.
What happened?
This cannot be the product of a couple of sex and bribery scandals, and the agitation created in the blogsphere. Are things really that bad, and is the government really that good at hiding it?
There are a couple of you that read this semi-regularly. If you have any thoughts, I would like to hear them, here in comments or by email. i really believe that we are not seeing something, I just can't figure out what it is.
The tune today is dedicated to the W.
To be completely truthful, for today anyway, I pity the man.
posted by eccentric recluse at 5:43 PM
2 Comments:
...at worse a grandiose effort to reshape 20th century history...
I remember a few years back, my bro' trying valiantly to explain how in fifty years I will be *happy* to see how we've placed a democracy in the Middle East where there once was none - and that this would be more than justification for the effort, the money, the time, and the American (and foreign) lives lost in the Iraqi war.
Hrmph. I asked him if he would go fight this valiant war instead of my son? (My son didn't go, thank gawd.)
Of course not. Don't be silly.
WTF?
I wonder if the "credit card" bill came in and the Admin just hadn't realized how many toys they really had purchased?
Or, perhaps do you think they feel as if the war is too great a liability for the Repubs in the '08 election, and that they are quickly running out of time? (Man oh man, it is almost '07!)
I don't know. But thanks for the post - good question - I will be giving this thought for the next few...
hey!
you should check this out, i think you'd find it interesting:
http://embailer.blogspot.com/2006/10/its-about-time.html
cool post, so much truth in it!
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