General Odom

The quote below by Gen. William Odom is ripped from Juan Cole. After Dickhead Cheney smearing people as giving victories to our enemies, it is nice to see someone with authority point such accusations in the proper direction.

' "The challenge we face today is not how to win in Iraq; it is how to recover from a strategic mistake: invading Iraq in the first place," he said.

"The president has let [the Iraq war] proceed on automatic pilot, making no corrections in the face of accumulating evidence that his strategy is failing and cannot be rescued. He lets the United States fly further and further into trouble, squandering its influence, money and blood, facilitating the gains of our enemies." '

Although I agree the the war is a bigtime strategic mistake, it is worse than that. It is also a criminal war of aggression. If your house is vandalized, you don't ask the vandal to fix it. Maybe you send him the bill. Asking the criminal Bush administration to lead our recovery from the 'strategic mistake' is like asking the vandal to fix your house. The only correction that will start to rebuild our reputation in the rest of the world is impeachment. Although you can hardly expect Democrats who voted for a criminal war of aggression to impeach, this is a case where I wouldn't mind seeing those who have sinned cast the first stone.

Republican = Al Qaeda

The pro war crazies are chanting two mantras about the timid democrats passing a suggested timeline along with another $100 billion bucks for Bush's folly.

Mantra 1 is the democrats are making the troops a political football, and not supporting them, by refusing to give them the funds they need. This is pure bullshit on many levels. First, it is factually incorrect. The democrats have passed a funding bill. Bush refuses to sign it because of the timetable. Second, what do the troops really need? Fifteen month rotations in Iraq, with no strategy or diplomatic initiatives in sight? I don't think so. The congress is trying to nudge Bush into giving the troops, and the rest of us, what we really need, but he is resisting.

Mantra 2 is that setting a timetable is surrendering to terrorists. But consider how this war could end. We could reach an agreement with the resistance. We could reach an agreement to create an international force to limit the chaos when we leave. Or we could just leave. There is another option, and that is what the pro war crazies prefer: to keep fighting, under the delusion that by subjecting Iraq to bombing, house to house searches, and daily humilation and misery, you can somehow kill off the resistance faster than it can attract new recruits. Of the non-delusional options available, the only one that congress can force to happen is the third one. The timeline is a gentle prod to the administration to get off their butts and pursure the other two options. It looks like Bush, Cheney, and the worst Secretary of State in history will choose not to do that. By their choice not to pursue political means to end the war, despite the urging of congress, the military leadership, and the public, they are the ones surrendering to the resistance. Instead of getting the troops out of the meat grinder, they will leave them there, and try to spin the inevitable loss as a "Democratic surrender", instead as a Republican blunder.

Bush: Failure, failure, failure.

In 2005, Bush said as Iraq troops stand up, American troops will stand down. In 2007, the surge policy is: forget about training, the Iraqis aren't standing up, so more Americans stand up instead. See Nancy Youssef's article for McClatchey.

Now Bush accuses the party of withdrawl of being for failure! His own policy has failed miserably, the Democrats are moving towards a policy of limiting the damage from Bush's failures, and he says they are legislating failure. Reid was right, it isn't worth a response.

Bush says American voted for change in November. (What's this, a lucid thought from the hallucinator in chief?) He says that he is giving us the change we voted for with his surge. (I guess not...)

Bush says if we set a timetable, the enemy will make plans to take over when we leave. So what? They ain't exactly sitting around all day smokin weed with Ali.

Bush says "withdrawl is not a strategy." So what is his strategy? He ain't got one. A surge ain't a strategy. Stand up stand down ain't a strategy. Wait, now its stand down stand up. All this standing up, standing down, he thinks he's playing duck duck goose. I better be careful talking about ducks, though, Cheney might think there's some hunting going on.

The decider wants a czar

The decider appears to have decided that he is not such a good decider after all.

For some reason, however, no one wants the job as war czar. Here is some ignorant speculation about why that might be.

1. Bush had a retired General in his cabinet who he treated rather poorly.
2. The generals think the job would be just PR, saying the president's war policies are great, even when they are crap.
3. Nobody wants to clean up someone else's FUBAR.
4. The money they are making as beltway bandits is too good.
5. They are too busy plotting a coup.
6. There really isn't anything left to do except pack up and leave. What this war needs is a negotiator, not another General.
7. There really isn't anything left to do except guard the oil fields (well, we aren't really doing that.)
8. What the hell are Gates, Rice, & Pace doing? Oh, planning the Iran war. No thanks.
9. They would only take the job on the condition that Bush and Cheney resign.
10. They don't want to miss American Idol.