James Brett
OpEdNews
Thursday, January 11, 2007
George Bush was not Cicero, as Olbermann suggested beforehand
that he might have to be, and he was not Lincoln at Gettysburg.
He was not happy, nor was he visibly shaken or worried looking.
He looked tired and his teeth appeared to be set.
George was consistent. He was consistent with the essential purpose
of this adventure of his, this departure from the pursuit of a
bin Laden needle in the mountainous haystacks of Afghanistan and
Pakistan ... a pursuit that was righteous and politically necessary,
but which only with amazing good luck could have produced success.
George was, as this observer has observed, fully and fiercely
involved in the middle east, AS IF it were his to reassemble any
way he wants. The consistency was Neocon consistency.
But, the point of the speech was to explain to a weary populace
that 21,500 additional troops in Iraq will make a difference.
Actually, folks, he did not say that. He said that he has told
Prime Minister Maliki of Iraq that he has to step up to the plate
and drive in a run. He said that U.S. troops will "embed"
with the Iraqis to assist them to clean up their own mess. He
said that this gesture on the part of the U.S. should not be seen
as an open commitment, yet everyone knows that Bush does not plan
to EVER remove U.S. troops from Iraq ... else why build permanent
bases.
Politically, Bush gave himself several ways out tonight. His
charge to Maliki will almost certainly not be fulfilled. Bush
did not state what the benchmarks of success might be, by the
way, but it will be apparent even amid all the bloodshed Bush
predicted whether or not Maliki will move to end the sectarian
violence. Failure of the Iraqis will be Bush's first line of defense
against political forces at home.
(The ensuing debate in Congress would do well, therefore, to
address the problem of metrics for Iraqi success—additional
troops or not!)
Bush also gave himself another way out as well. He said that
the additional carrier task group now deployed to the region would
be insuring ... as best aircraft carriers are able to deal with
land-based insurgency supply lines (remember the Ho Chi Minh Trail,
folks!) ... that Iran and Syria do not increase the mischief they
are already guilty of. Chris and Keith at MSNBC were so taken
with the emphasis Bush put on this that they saw a new front in
the war open up tonight. This observer has been predicting this
for months and months.
Iran and Syria are a political way out for George. His stock
is so low right now, he will be tarred and feathered if he attempts
to bomb the supply lines within Iran or Syria without a "Pearl
Harbor" type of provocation. Bush's manipulation of intelligence
and the press now comes all the way around to bite him. If he
had played it more subtly he might have made do with something
less than a "Pearl Harbor." Assad and Ahmani-Nejad both
know that George is hoist on his own petard, so they will supply
and rearm the insurgents with impunity, and this becomes Bush's
way out. Hogtied by his own bellicose prevarications, he will
claim the Iranians as the evil force in the region and present
the 2008 Presidential election campaigns with an ugly choice:
Iran as hegemon in the middle east or American action against
Iran, despite the opprobrium and hatred from Islam that it will
bring.
Democrats will do well to pounce on the benchmarks issue and
to let the opportunity to augment the troops pass. Putting this
in the hands of the Iraqi government by insisting on hard compromises
among Iraqis is the only way. Americans have to stop being "enablers"
to the ancient problems of these people. Iraqis will scratch out
a hopeful government pointed in the right direction ... or not.
It is theirs to decide.
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