18thc Tarot Tile – Prediction of Disaster

GWBush Swept Away; The Deluge

Sow bad seeds and eventually you reap the wild wind. Past gross errors by GWBush and his misguided neocon cohorts have slammed into them; they are now being swamped and contradicted by a remorselessly embarrassing reality. It is so bad that recently Bush tacitly welcomed US House Representative Foley's devastating pedophile scandal as a media respite from critical torture being inflicted on him because of his catastrophic national security policies, and his misleading conduct in the Iraq war.

There is a quartet of recently published books by respected authors that has effectively driven a stake through Bush's misleading and perfidious national security policies: COBRA TWO, which documented and demonstrated disastrous planning and execution in the invasion of Iraq; FIASCO, which outlined the egregious and self defeating US policy of post invasion Iraq; HUBRIS, which identified inside manipulation of the Administration to cover up its lies and stupidity that led to war; and STATE OF DENIAL is the latest. It is a coup de grâce delivered to the Bush administration which includes damaging quotes indicting the denial of reality of Team Bush in its determination to mislead the American public. Individually these books may have been blown off by the Bush Administration as written by vexed partisans, but collectively their synergy blasts Bush out of the saddle. For GWB, politically, the books are the Four Horseman of Apocalypse; might call the horsemen: DECEIT – INCOMPETENCE – RECKLESSNESS and SELF DELUSION.

These books are written about the past, but past is prologue – only a fool would expect the "stay the course" crowd to stop the bleeding. By now it should have dawned on Team Bush that it is easier to invade than occupy – that it is easier to take an objective than to hold it. Senators Fisk and Warner may be having an Epiphany after their recent visits to Afghanistan and Iraq respectively.

Fisk came back from Afghanistan with his head spinning. Said that the Taliban is there to stay in Afghanistan and it should be included in the Afghan government – the White House had a stroke when it heard Doctor/Senator Fisk's statement and had Fisk take back his statement. Recollect that much earlier at a White House press conference with Ari Fleischer, when a foreign reporter asked him about a rumor that the Taliban was prepared to exchange bin Laden for an American aid package, Fleischer replied that he did not know anything about it; but, he also stated that he would get back to the reporter. He never did answer the question, even with a denial. Seemed to me to be a better deal than fight an endless war in a Godforsaken piece of the planet that no country ever conquered. Afghanistan is not a country, but rather a collection of tribes who generally hate each other. The 19th century British Rajah arbitrarily drew boundaries in the Indo Central Asian area that were motivated by administrative considerations rather than sensitivity to tribal distribution; for example: 40% of the Pashtun tribe live in Afghanistan and the other 60% across the border in Pakistan. The border does not mean much to them, and they cross it regularly, unrestrained... Most of the Taliban is Pashtun, and many Pashtun serve in the Pakistani army as officers. So, you understand why Pakistani caudillo Musharraf has his problems keeping them and GWB happy at the same time.

After Republican Senator John Warner's ninth trip to Iraq, he now has appeared to change his tune of total support for Bush's Iraq war. Warner historically appears to love war; he even supported Clinton's bombing of Serbia during the Balkan war and in 1991 voted to keep funding for the continuation of the occupation of the Balkans. He is Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee when Republicans are in charge, and minority leader when they are not, but he always votes for war – he is bipartisan that way. He is pompous in his demeanor; his supporters call it gravitas. He, however, did earn my respect when he married Liz Taylor, even though she was a touch past her prime, but he divorced her after few years. His claim to fame in the end will be that he was #7 of Liz's 8 husbands. As far as his political contributions, history will judge him as a bomber. His recent fanfare on protecting the Geneva convention fell apart when GWB figuratively pulled his long hair. He now has misgivings about the Iraq war resolution, as it may not be valid now that American troops are involved in a civil war. But, so far, it is only talk – he has not made anything happen. He has stated that things are going sideways in Iraq. SIDEWAYS? Senator, try DOWNWARD. US had 776 casualties in Iraq in September and the rate is just as bad so far in October. He believes if things do not get better in Iraq within a few months, all options are on the table. Does that mean CUT AND RUN is also on the table?

With the recent testing by North Korea of a nuclear device, you have to wonder why GWBush's diplomacy failed. It also has failed in Iran and war in Iraq also counts as diplomatic failure. His neocon gibberish in his State of Union address, Axes of Evil, contributed to the diplomatic disaster, as it provided seeds for open belligerency. Condoleezza and General Powell both shamefully cleared that idiotic speech. Bush apparently believes if you do not talk to your enemies, they will evaporate. Maybe Bush should heed James Baker’s advice that if you talk diplomatically to anyone, talk to your enemy. It is clear that North Korea is a Red Chinese satellite. Expectations that China would help Bush solve the North Korean problem is hopelessly naive. If Bush wants to squeeze China to thump North Korea, he needs to dramatically raise tariffs on Chinese imported goods into the US. So what if pro-Chinese Wal-Mart squeals. Either that, or learn to live with the bomb. Bomb North Korea? That is even dumber than invading Iraq.

It has taken the American public five years to figure out that Bush is the light that failed. Polls now indicate that the majority of Americans prefer Democrats to fight the war on terror and figure the Democrats would clean up the Iraq occupation. Bush's religious right, despite the Republican cover up of pedophile activities in the House of Representatives, will hypocritically vote Republican regardless of these events, because the Bible tells them so. Independents and moderate Republicans will not be so understanding or fanatic. Bush and his Party have proved conclusively that they do not know what they are doing. MISSON ACCOMPLISHED??? Colonel Robert E Bartos USA RET