Monday, April 23, 2007

Our Confident President's Rejection of Inconvenient Truths - Vol. 3 Issue 51

While the President Bush keeps following the Rovian politics of deceit, there will be no progress in Iraq. The President’s demagoguery ("military decisions should be made by the Commanders on the ground, not politicians here in Washington") has become so blatant that all but Bush’s inner-circle of dead-end supporters are leaving his sinking ship. It is the same pattern we saw with Nixon: when members of his own party peeled away, Nixon’s political effectiveness was at an end. With the Iraq disaster, the Alberto Gonzales imbroglio and the Wolfowitz scandal getting worse with every new revelation, the Bush Presidency is heading toward oblivion.

The American people are showing themselves to be far wiser than their representatives. By every measurement, the public disapproves of Bush’s foreign policy. See, USIraqProCon.org. Americans want a bi-partisan policy that reduces troops in Iraq and emphasizes diplomacy. Bush’s oft-repeated cliche, that “politicians shouldn’t tell Generals how to wage war” is among the most absurd statements ever made by this or any President. OF COURSE POLITICIANS SHOULD TELL THE MILITARY WHEN AND HOW TO WAGE WAR! That is called, “civilian control of the military,” and it is an essential part of our constitutional system. The President knows this. He also knows that his macho posturing is dishonest. For what is HE, if not a politician?

The fight over timetables for withdrawal of the majority of our ground troops in Iraq will continue. As the “Surge” becomes an obvious failure - even to those who supported it - the President will hopefully relent. I expect that he will eventually adopt the wisdom of the bi-partisan Iraq Study Group and institute what they recommended months ago: a phased withdrawal coupled with intense diplomacy and inclusion of Syria and Iran in a regional peace conference. Ultimately, the former Iraq will be divided into three separate Federations. Right now, George W. Bush is the greatest obstacle to a settlement in Iraq. We can only pray that he undergoes some sort of religious conversion. Perhaps he can try Buddhism? Or maybe he can come to understand the true meaning of Jesus Christ? Something, anything to stop the escalating carnage (9 of our kids killed yesterday)!

Looking for any progress, I remain

Savant