Friday, June 23, 2006

Bush says "stay the course" —but there is no course to stay.

The war is lost already. The "new" Shiite government in Iraq has already formed a de facto alliance with Iran.

Bush will eventually withdraw from Iraq; there is no other choice. Predictably, Bush will call an ignominious retreat a victory. Reminded that his policy was not merely wrong but wrong-headed, Bush will resort to the Thom Friedman defense: What does being right have to do with anything?

Days before he offed himself, history's other great liar —Adolph Hitler —was positioning non-existent divisions which he hoped would defeat the Russians. The Russians, by that time, were just a few blocks away from the bunker. But —What does being right have to do with anything? A question that only the dead wrong would ask.

The US position is untenable. US troops are confined to small areas inside Baghdad. In the year 2003, CNN would report:
More importantly, the U.S. control over Baghdad is going to tighten very considerably in the next 24 hours.

CNN LIVE EVENT/SPECIAL, U.S. Military Continues to Move About in Baghdad Suburbs, Aired April 9, 2003 - 01:00 ET

Things have changed. The US is no longer free to roam about the city. Frustrated US forces are reduced to killing, murdering civilians. This is stark reality compared to the pie in the sky promises of "Democracy" served up just prior to the invasion. By the time Paul Bremer would arrive, he was already faced with what was called a "security problem". He was, in fact, already in the midst of a guerrilla war against an illegal occupation.

The coalition of the willing' —bribed or coerced to begin with—has all but melted away. Japan —never a combatant —has washed its hands of Bush's dirty, evil little war. My remaining surprise is that Blair has managed to hang on so long. What's left of that coalition —if coalition it is —now has sole possession of what one Middle Eastern writer has called an 'opened Iraqi grenade '. It is in danger of blowing up in Bush's face.

When everyone else has gotten out, who remains but another war criminal, Tony Blair, to aid an increasingly despised US? Will even Blair so risk his government? Even if we were prepared to wage a guerrilla war, such a war is already lost.

Che Guevarra wrote a near definitive treatise on "Guerrilla Warfare". The US has already broken rule number one: win the hearts and minds of the people. Let's review how Bush and the US have gone about trying to win "hearts and minds". Clearly —John Bolton's charge was not to represent the US position to the UN; rather, he was tasked with subverting the UN from within. Moreover, the Iraqi people hate Bush and he has no friends among the some 300,000 who make up the military force of the "new" Iraqi government.

On another front: what has become of the US relationship with Europe when Bush and his criminal junta have repeatedly insulted and humiliated Europeans? Spain, Australia, and the UK have suffered humiliating backlash and deadly attacks on their own soil. What now could possibly motivate Europe to stick its neck out for Bush? And what of the Iraqi people? They are largely without running water, utlities, police protection. There is little or no security.

If Bush should attack Iran, the "new" Iraqi government, allied with Iran, would turn those 300,000 troops against the U.S. in a heartbeat. Bush is already losing a war of attrition and not even Bush can get away with increasing troop strength sufficient to deal with a guerrilla war of that magnitude.

Bush will withdraw and perhaps sooner than we think. It'll make the US withdrawal from Viet Nam —a mad scramble for helicopters atop an embattled US embassy —look like Dunkirk. Look at the map. How will Bush withdraw from Iraq if it makes of Iran an enemy? Iran guards the Straits of Hormuz —the only way in, the only way out. It will be a humiliating, world-changing experience in which a spoiled frat boy will fall and the the US will forever lose its pre-eminence on the world stage.

But we have the GOP leadership to thank for installing an illegitimate "President" and we have the GOP rank and file to thank for supporting the coup d'etat! We have FOX to thank for having written the musical score —a "whoosh" designed to match the slick animation of tanks and explosions. Gee! Wasn't war cool? And thanks, of course, to the FOX scriptwriters for this year's best work of trashy fiction.

Bush cast himself in the role of tragic hero; but Bush is no hero and the results are only tragic. Greek drama, moreover, requires a "hero" better than ourselves. Clearly, Bush is miscast. The true tragic "hero" makes of suffering a catharsis in which misery is made positive and suffering redeems our worst flaws. Bush, however, is the embodiment of hubris and it has lead him to a reckless disregard of human life and nature itself. The die is cast and Bush will fall victim to a dialectic that he himself has set into motion.

The third act has already begun.

State of emergency declared in Baghdad

The Iraqi government declared a state of emergency and imposed a curfew today after insurgent gunmen set up roadblocks in central Baghdad and opened fire on US and Iraqi troops just north of the heavily fortified Green Zone.

With just two hours notice, Prime Minister Nouri Maliki ordered everyone off the streets of the capital. US and Iraqi forces also were engaged in firefights with insurgents in the dangerous Dora neighbourhood in south Baghdad.

The fighting along Haifa Street near the Green Zone, the site of the US and British embassies as well as the Iraqi government, was unusual in its scope and intensity.

There have, however, routinely been clashes along the thoroughfare, making it so dangerous that a sign at one Green Zone exit checkpoint warns drivers against using the street.

As the state of emergency was announced in the capital, a car bomb ripped through a market and nearby petrol station in the increasingly volatile southern city of Basra today, killing at least five people and wounding 18, including two policemen, police said.

A bomb also struck a Sunni mosque in the town of Hibhib northeast of Baghdad, killing 10 worshippers and wounding 15 in the same town where Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed earlier this month, police said.

At least 19 other deaths were reported in Baghdad. ...

Mahathir: Bush, Blair must be punished for war crimes

2006/6/23

By Pauline Jasudason KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, AP

Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, a frequent critic of the war in Iraq, on Thursday called U.S. President George W. Bush and his Australian and British allies "war criminals," saying they must be punished for crimes against humanity.

He also said Bush had "demonized Islam." In a speech accompanied by photos of alleged torture and war crimes in Iraq and in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Mahathir exhorted global leaders to "summon the political will" to try Bush, his advisers and allies in an international court.

Mahathir, who led Malaysia for 22 years until stepping down in 2003, has frequently criticized Washington's Middle East policies.

During his speech, a slideshow titled "The War Criminals" showed pictures of Bush, his advisers, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Australian leader John Howard and others.

"Bush and Blair and any leader, present or future who wage wars must not and should not be addressed by any honorific," Mahathir told a crowd of some 1,000 at a public forum organized by the private Perdana Global Peace Organization, which he heads. ...
Yep! If you've paid taxes, you've helped enable Bushto murder tens of thousands of people —innocent people —known by Bush and his criminal junta to have had nothing whatsoever to do with 911:

The cost of Bush's aggression, both in money and lives, has turned America into a nation of war criminals

Faced with mounting civilian carnage, both from war crimes committed by demoralized and broken US troops and from the raging civil war unleashed by Bush's ill-fated illegal invasion of Iraq, the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee has decided to waste another $50 billion to continue the lost war for five more months. Our elected "representatives" are so in thrall to the powerful military-industrial complex that no amount of American shame, pariah status and military defeat can shut off the flow of taxpayers' funds to the merchants of death.

Bush's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are costing hard-pressed US taxpayers $300,000,000 per day! These wars are lost. Yet, imbecilic members of Congress are in the process of funding the war for another year. Multiply $300 million by 365 days and you get $109,500,000,000. These are not the full costs. The huge figure does not include the destroyed equipment, destroyed lives, and long-term care of the maimed and disabled. ...




The Existentialist Cowboy

24 comments:

SadButTrue said...

"Reminded that his policy was not merely wrong but wrong-headed, Bush will resort to the Thom Friedman defense: What does being right have to do with anything?

That sounds like the reduction ad absurdum exemplified by the Chewbacca Defense of South Park fame:
The Chewbacca Defense

How can this administration even pretend that it has not run out of ideas? They haven't run out of chutzpah, that's for sure. And a certain percent of the US public inexplicably still buy this idiot's drivel.

"Bush cast himself in the role of tragic hero:"
A bizarro world version of Ullyses, who has filled his own ears with wax, and tied the country to the mast. He boldly navigates the ship of state through the quagmire, heedless of all advice, staying the course that will inevitably tear the hull apart on the shoals of defeat. No witch is necessary to turn his crew into swine, they already are swine, feeding at the mercenary trough of a privatized military.

BushAmerica

BuSHAMErica

Ingrid said...

Wow..this Mahatmir is in the position to criticize and I am glad he is doing so. And not merely Bush, but all the other 'accused'. There is no way there would be the political will to take them to court though, not in a million years. I think there truly would be a military confrontation if Bush got picked up during one of his visits abroad..seriously. However much he, and his ilk/entourage/handlers (let's not forget those behind the scenes) deserve it.

NYC TAXI SHOTS said...

;[];

Unknown said...

Everyone, check out the tax shots. Good stuff.

Sebastien Parmentier said...

If Bush gets pick up by insurgents in Iraq? The next president's line will be: "I truly am not that concerned about him."

Unknown said...

Ingrid, you may have seen one of my previous articles. Tom DeLay sponsored legislation authorizing the "President" (and that assumes a legitimate one) to order US troops into the Hague to rescue US war criminals.

Iraq, however, is different. If things continue to deteriorate, as I fear they may, Bush may find himself without the political protection that now seems so insurmountable and formidable.

The US could escape from Viet Nam because it was strong economically. Not so now. Fewer fear us. That's why more recognizable names are speaking about against Bush's war crimes.

Visualize criminals "sittin'" in the dock in the Hague.

Unknown said...

Dante, it was by design that Bush sneaked in and out of Iraq unannounced. What if the resistance to the U.S. occupation had had stinger missiles as did the Mujahadeen in Afghanistan? Bush might not have landed at all.

I would prefer that Bush be tried by a court that has weight, a claim to legitimacy. Nuremberg had weight because every major power supported it. Interestingly, ONLY the US opposes the Hague and seeks deliberately to subvert it.

I have done some interesting Google searches over the last month. Not too long ago, I was a lone voice calling for war crimes trials. Now ...I am lost in the din. And that's a good thing.

daveawayfromhome said...

America could have been held blameless for BushCo's actions (or claimed to be so) before 2004, but now, as a nation, we're all war criminals. It'll be interesting to see if, supposing Lord Bush and his Cabal do get charged by the international community for war crimes, evidence suddenly surfaces that the 2004 election was fixed (thus "getting us off the hook").

Personally, I think that the apparent indifference shown by the American people is at least as damning as any election results. That the Republican party has not been sent packing in every recent election shows that we still dont get it. As a nation, we suck, and deserve a long, painful slide into 2nd class world status.

Unknown said...

As a nation, we suck, and deserve a long, painful slide into 2nd class world status.

One of my mentors in the broadcasting business (once a very well known personality in the Chicago market) once told me that we always do what we want and everything else is just excuses. A corollary may very well follow from that: we always get what we deserve. Now THAT'S scary.

Unknown said...

Daniel, you're right. Bush has run out of ideas. And thanks for the "Chewbacca Defense".That's great.

Anonymous said...

good ole boy George does not have a plan to get out of Iraq nor does he want to have a plan. He is goiong to leave it to the next president. The cowardly president has never completed anything he started.

Sebastien Parmentier said...

Have you read the devastating edito from the Times, yesterday?

That 'll give you a good idea about the brand of patriotism carried by Goppers:

http://yourturn.npr.org/cgi-bin/WebX?14@5.GWI2agvQkTc.127480@.ee7e556/70140

Unknown said...

good ole boy George does not have a plan to get out of Iraq nor does he want to have a plan.

You're right he has no plan and does not want one. He is building permanent bases in Iraq and that betrays the real reason for the attack and invasion: Bush wants to control the price of oil —NOT downward but UPWARD for his oil base. Seconly, Bush is not a "good ole" boy. Being fourth generation Texan, I can tell you with some authority that neither his "act" nor his stupid, cornball, phony accent is "Texan". Bush is fraud.

Anonymous said...

Off course!

SadButTrue said...

Bush wants to control the price of oil —NOT downward but UPWARD for his oil base.
Inspired by a line in dante's excellent NPR editorial (linked upthread), I have written my latest blogpost, concerning the relationship between the long-running US-Canada softwood lumber dispute and BushCo™'s lust for Canadian oil. It is a tale of corruption and greed, and two governments who relentlessly make decisions in back rooms that are against the interests of their respective citizenry. It provides background to Dante's article unlikely to be found anywhere in the US media, and while written from a Canadian perspective, it concentrates on how citizens of the US are affected by blatant Republican pandering to corporate interests.
If you're interested the article can be found at:

Screwed for Crude

Ingrid said...

Len...first off, I think you need to discomboobelate the 'anonymous' feature (haha)..come out in the open please!!
Anyway, also, I have not read your piece on a possible, "get Bush out of the The Hague jail card", courtesy of Delay. Holy Cow, doesn't that show that 'they' already know that what they are doing is illegal? As Dave's friend said, they know, they just wanna do what they wanna do.
I wrote a post on one of Robert Jensen's articles (I'm so lucky to be in Austin) regarding the US' national character, the narcisstic personality disorder. It explains a lot! Btw..going to see Lewis Blacks' Red White and Screwed tonight. Can't wait what he has to say!
Ingrid

Unknown said...

Len...first off, I think you need to discomboobelate the 'anonymous' feature (haha)..come out in the open please!!

I was asking for trouble by quoting "Jesus". I suppose I am lucky that I didn't get the same length irrelevant sermon from a Christian fundie —only an Islamic one.

Recently, Daniel was accused of being a "mystic" for merely referring to a Gnostic text. I shall be careful not to mention the Nazoreans! OOOPS! Too late.

BTW, I deleted the post you are clearly referring to because 1) it was irrelevant, and 2) I should be paid rent on anything longer than 50 pages.

Anyway, also, I have not read your piece on a possible, "get Bush out of the The Hague jail card", courtesy of Delay. Holy Cow, doesn't that show that 'they' already know that what they are doing is illegal?

Surely, they had planned to commit war crimes and wanted a carte blanche. Lately, however, Bushco has contented itself with making legal —ex post facto —the crimes they've already perpetrated! Now...for anyone aspiring to world wide dictatorship, that is is just downright sloppy! Sloppy, I tell you. I'm shocked!

I wrote a post on one of Robert Jensen's articles (I'm so lucky to be in Austin) regarding the US' national character, the narcisstic personality disorder.

National character? You must surely mean Kinky Friedman. I will probably vote for him for governor. He will do better than either Bush or Mr. Hair Club for Men (Rick Perry) by merely showing up. And judging from how Texas ranks education-wise, the rest of the state won't know the difference.

Unknown said...

I found the following on the Chicago Area Mensa website:

Existentialist Cowboy. An above-average opinion site.

I credit the great comments on this and the other articles.

- said...

Great Job making C&L Len. Keep up the great work love reading your stuff.

Have you had a chance yet to see the series we are doing over at Donkephant yet?

\/ Peace

Unknown said...

Hey fuzzflash : ) Welcome back.

What did Groucho say about that?

Something like I wouldn't join any club that would admit me as a member"

I am not a member of Mensa and only learned of their link via either technorati or sitemeter. I don't recall which. Their link, of course, is welcome. I rather think that the level of discourse here is, indeed, a cut above.

Therefore, on a Q.E.D. basis, your site,sir, amongst its other fine attributes, not the least of which is the camaraderie, is empirically therapeutic.

It's interesting how the camraderie just seemed to have happened. My only complaint is the format. I want to give greater prominence to the comment threads but am limited by the templates.

TFLS said...

It is already being bruited about that any and all ‘insurgents’ will be granted blanket amnesty as a way of stabilizing Iraq’s new puppet government. And I don’t agree that Bolton’s job was to subvert the UN – I think it was to express, in the mist hubristic way possible, George Bush’s utter contempt for the entire concept of a world governing body. His secondary mission was to ferret out those nations willing to back Bush carte blanche; though I’m afraid he came up short there. Idi Amin is dead, last I heard – and as you pointed out - outside of Blair, no one wants to have anything to do with America these days.

As for withdrawal for this war of stupidity – that balloon has already been floated. Troop withdrawals to begin this October – just in time for the midterm elections. Though I suspect you may be right in that it may actually begin sooner – a trickle intended as a sop to embattled Republicans – expanding into a full-scale pyroclastic flow if circumstances warrant. And unlike Sophocles – there will be no ghost in the machine to bail out an untenable third act. Quick – call in Mamet to punch up the dialogue.

Anonymous said...

Thanks Fuzzflash for your cheery soccer remarks. Yeah, a dodgy referee decision, but what can you do?

Len, I don't have much time for Malaysian PM Mahathir. He is right about the war crimes but I've never trusted his motives. I'd feel a lot more respect for his position if he would equally denounce the systematic murder of christians in Aceh. In Mahathir's case, it's all a bit selective, I'm afraid. Still, anything that highlights the crimes of Bush, Blair andHoward is fine by me.

(Cheers to all, my computer's been down lately).

SadButTrue said...

Apropos of nothing, I offer this YouTube link, that should have everyone laughing their asses off:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59TeDyQz4_U

Rather than use the href= convention I've left it in its raw form in case you wish to email it to your friends.

Unknown said...

Ah so....I am suppose to thank Bush for carrying out murder in my name.

I don't think so. Here's the message that I forwarded when I got a heads up on this by email:

Now Bush partisans have stooped to selling war crimes and aggression with Madison avenue techniques. The GOP message is simply this: "morality is whatever you can sell with slogan"

Bush has set the example: debate is dead; dissent is "swift boated". Now death and destruction is packaged and "positioned".