Time Is on Bush's Side
Why Republicans Won't Desert Him
We are locked in a war that cannot be won by military force alone, are facing a weapon that tends to favor insurgents -- time. A majority of Americans think that invading Iraq was a mistake and that things in Iraq are going badly. Administration spokesmen have recently said this disaster could last another decade with the same alacrity as they originally proposed it would last "only a few weeks, months, tops".
A current draft of a Pentagon reads:
But in another sense time is on Bush's side. He has as much as admitted he has no plans to finish what he started in Iraq. He has said that American troops will leave Iraq not on his watch; another, succeeding president will 'preside' over the American exit.
We know how the legacy will run: "Who lost Iraq?" will go the refrain, at least until the Republicans can regain the White House.
So time is on Bush's side. All he has to do is to make it to the January 2009 goal line. In the meantime, he has to distract and deflect public discussion on Iraq from becoming a debate.
After Bush, the deluge.
That is why Progressivism has to win in November: to place oversight and, ultimately, impeachment on the Congressional agenda.
The author of un-provoked, aggressive war must be punished while he is in office if we are to ameliorate the stain and stigma of having become the major threat to international peace. Americans must renounce unprovoked war as a defensible policy. To do so, we must renounce Bush while he is office.
If Bush completes his term in office unscathed, he gets the last laugh.
We are locked in a war that cannot be won by military force alone, are facing a weapon that tends to favor insurgents -- time. A majority of Americans think that invading Iraq was a mistake and that things in Iraq are going badly. Administration spokesmen have recently said this disaster could last another decade with the same alacrity as they originally proposed it would last "only a few weeks, months, tops".
A current draft of a Pentagon reads:
The insurgent wins if he does not lose, while the counter insurgent loses if he does not win. Insurgents are strengthened by the common perception that a few casualties or a few years will cause the United States to abandon the effort.Time would seem to be on the side of the insurgency. With Cheney and Rumsfeld predicting another dozen years, it is definitely not on our side.
But in another sense time is on Bush's side. He has as much as admitted he has no plans to finish what he started in Iraq. He has said that American troops will leave Iraq not on his watch; another, succeeding president will 'preside' over the American exit.
We know how the legacy will run: "Who lost Iraq?" will go the refrain, at least until the Republicans can regain the White House.
So time is on Bush's side. All he has to do is to make it to the January 2009 goal line. In the meantime, he has to distract and deflect public discussion on Iraq from becoming a debate.
Immigration Reform!Etc., etc. Every way he turns, it's the same deal: politics defines policies. Bush is bent on 'working around' his disastrous un-provoked, unnecessary and largely unilateral invasion and occupation of Iraq (UULUIOI) and not through it. Iraquagmire blunders on in the interest of the Bush legacy. Cash, casualties, and causality be damned.
Medicare!
Ahmadinejad is the next Hitler!
After Bush, the deluge.
That is why Progressivism has to win in November: to place oversight and, ultimately, impeachment on the Congressional agenda.
The author of un-provoked, aggressive war must be punished while he is in office if we are to ameliorate the stain and stigma of having become the major threat to international peace. Americans must renounce unprovoked war as a defensible policy. To do so, we must renounce Bush while he is office.
If Bush completes his term in office unscathed, he gets the last laugh.
posted by Vigilante at 5/17/2006 08:04:00 AM
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