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GW Bush at BAY

Wolves of reality are circling our President GW Bush – his choices in Iraq are STAND, SPEND AND DIE or CUT AND RUN. Stung by his crushing anti-war polls while faced with the onset of the 06 elections, his moment of truth is fast approaching. Victory is no longer an option.

His diehard strategy is to convince the American people that the war in Iraq is part of the war on terror – it gets confusing as this proposition ignores an insurgency that is composed of different stripes of Iraqis – as a matter of fact, the al Qaeda leadership gets bumped off regularly in Iraq. Whether it is a matter of successful hunt and kill intelligence or the fact the foreign leadership is turned in intentionally by the insurgents, is a matter of conjecture. Elimination of al Qaeda fighters, probably strengthens the unity of the insurgent command, but it certainly has propaganda value. By now how many al Qaeda fighters have been captured or killed that had a hand in the demolition of the sacred Shiite mosque in Samara? Bush refuses to accept that the insurgency has national roots and is anti-American; to date, death or capture of al Qaeda leadership has only increased the violence in Iraq. Some say, ironically, it strengthens the national insurgency.

Bush has had the temerity to announce he will not withdraw from Iraq as long as he is President – this statement goes down in History right beside his unenlightened BRING EM ON and MISSION ACCOMPLISHED. Last time I checked, in our Democracy the executive branch has one vote, and the judicial and legislative branches each have equal power. If the Democrats gain control of the house after 06 elections, the President will figuratively be grabbed by the hair to end the war before his term ends.

Bush strategy is to counterattack opponents of the war by smearing them as defeatist, fascist, Leninist, evil ones or those who devour babies: Grand Swift Boat attack techniques. Some Democrats make an effort to deflect the assault by cool logic: they whine over fairness or find flaws in Bush's logic, like a kid who tells the teacher when he gets slugged on the play ground. This Little Lord Fauntleroy approach plays into Bush's hands. These bombastic attacks have the stench of Marxist modus operandi – probably developed by his neocons, who in many cases learned from relations who were Trotskyites. The only way to respond to this kind of diatribe rough stuff is to INSULT THE INSULTERS – encourage the country to try BUSH AND HIS INCOMPETENT BUNGLERS – develop multi-media ads about BUSH THE RUNNING DOG OF BIG OIL, BUSH THE LOBBYISTS’ LAP DOG, BUSH THE BOMBER, BUSH THE WAR LOVER, and BUSH THE MEXICAN/CHINESE DOORMAT. If the Democrats are smart, they will make Bush explain how these slogans are wrong or unfair. Otherwise, they may win the moral ground, but remain unelected like Kerry, who failed to smash the Swift Boaters.

Democrats must stay on target and focus on only GW BUSH. Forget Rumsfeld. He just follows the big elephant in the parade and sweeps up after him. COURAGE, DEMOCRATS!

Bush's image of victory in Iraq is amorphous and intentionally overoptimistic: Iraqis blissfully enjoying the fruits of freedom, adoring Israel and remaining united; one country, eagerly pumping oil to the US markets. Fat chance! Kurds want their own flag right now and have de-facto independence. Even Sunni Iraqis are moving to Kurdistan to avoid the insecurity in their lands. As far as democracy flourishing in Iraq, note that it is not working so hot in the US. The last two national elections are replete with irregularities: still recounting votes in Ohio, and voting machines have no paper trail in nearly all the states. Congress will not pass laws to protect our borders. Corruption has been a way of life for centuries in Mesopotamia and that is not ever going to change. Israel is detested by all tribes and most of the Iraqi Jews left for Israel years ago frightened by the destruction of their synagogues and lured by Zionist promises. Whatever Iraq ends up as, you can be certain it will be brokered by Iran and you can kiss the oil goodbye under these circumstances. Bush still does not have enough sense to open diplomatic relations with Iran and has disdained an open public debate between him and the Iranian leadership. Bush prefers to drop bombs, not talk.

As far as world opinion on Bush's success on building Democracy in Iraq, we have to go to a recent press conference at St. Petersburg, Russia between Bush and Putin. While in Russia, Bush gracelessly chided Putin on the pace of Democracy in his country – Putin fired back without batting an eye YOU MEAN THE KIND YOU ESTABLISHED IN IRAQ? At that, the assembled international press corps roared with laughter – poor Bush weakly replied with a childish rejoinder: You just wait and see. Yes, Mr. Bush we will wait and see. How many more dead and wounded Americans will it take and how many billions of dollars must we spend? It is a fair question the Democrats should ask every day – at every opportunity.

Bush and the neocons argue that despite the failures in Iraq, the US must stay the course otherwise chaos will ensue – they argue it would be worse if we pull out. It may get worse, but the US troops will stop dying and the flow from US treasury blocked. As far as the Bush prediction on more chaos, he has never been right about Iraq and there is no question that the US troops contribute to the existing chaos. Nobody believes the US knows what it is doing in Iraq and by many reports, that includes the troops themselves.

Time to fold the tent and come home. For whatever it is worth, claim victory for regime change and try to make a deal on oil with the tribes, as the Iraqi puppet regime folds the minute we depart. It seems obvious now that the Iraqi politicians have a foot in the US and another in the Insurgent camps, so most elements will survive. This duality of loyalty extends to Iraqi police, Army and security forces – as far as the neocons' pet snake Chalibi, he may even run for president of Iran.

Alternatively, the US can execute the General George Armstrong Custer maneuver: stay until we lose. Colonel Robert E. Bartos USA RET