Friday, December 01, 2006

Politically a Bad Week

Things sure seem to be sliding into the political ditch this past week. The findings of the Iraq Study Commission have not even been released and Bush is already rejecting them in favor of "stay the course." Apparently this is because the commission has come to the same conclusion as the generals on the ground and the rest of the world in general--there can be no "victory" in Iraq. Some of the talking heads are saying that this is just a bit of presidential chest beating before he concedes (never officially of course) that we are going to have to begin pulling out our troops.

The Iraq government teeters on the edge of collapse as Al-Sadr pitches a temper tantrum over Maliki agreeing to meet with Bush. I'm not sure how anyone will tell the difference. Maliki has also tried flexing what little muscle he has by snubbing Bush and King Abdullah of Jordan. The most telling thing he said has left the president sputtering. He claimed that the U.S. will be out of Iraq by June. Bush always said the Iraq government was sovereign and made its own decisions, but apparently this one will not be allowed to stand.

Then Newt Gingrich, who really should know better, comes out with a proposal to censor free speech on the Internet. Gingrich isn't nearly as dumb as Bush yet in this single speech he brought himself down to the same abysmal level. What is it about the constitution that these men do not understand?

So all in all it's been a politically bad week. Nobody is paying any attention to Bush's chest beating and posturing. The pundits are saying he's lying to us again about what will ultimately happen. It's a real mess. I'm not sure if Bush is just delusional and actually believes all this crap he spouts or if he is just too stubborn and arrogant to admit he's made a mistake then take adequate steps to fix the mess he made.

2 comments:

BBC said...

Ever hear of the seventy year rule?

The three hundred year rule?

Nothing is going to be fixed easily this time. It will continue to go to hell until it's very very ugly.

After it is all over, hopefully they will be able to rebuild something better from the ashes of this planet.

If any of them survive that is. Hugs.

Leandra said...

I guess what I find discouraging is that none of this is even necessary. There was never a valid reason to go into Iraq in the first place. Had we concentrated limited resources into securing and pacifying Afghanistan, Bush might have something to show for those thousands upon thousands of wasted lives--sacrified to his ego.

Right now the only thing I see happening when this is all over is Iraq descending into further chaos and more tens of thousands of Iraqis dying. These people wanted nothing more than to just live their lives. Saddam was a monster, but at least he kept some order in the streets, and they had power and clean water and hospitals.

More and more this is looking like the king's men trying to put Humpty Dumpty together after he fell of the wall.