Red State Renegade

What more is there to say about the Petraeus and Crocker show today, predictably unveiling nothing but more fucking of America.

Fucking of the troops - those killed for George’s messianic visions, or worse, maimed for life. Fucking of their families - the sons and daughters of who live with this disaster every second and have to buy into it because…Christ…How can you admit that this hellish life is all a mistake?

Fucking of our standing in the world - Yes, as a superpower but an often benevolent one. Fucking of the good will and sympathy we had after 9-11. Fucking of world opinion of the U.S.

Fucking of previous military leaders who didn’t back the party line. Fucking of the Iraq Study Group, Fucking of the GAO report on the surge…Fucking of our own intelligence agencies, who say we’re breeding terrorists over there faster than we can kill them.

Fucking of the real numbers - Sectarian violence, Children dying, poor levels of electricity and water, increases in disease, families displaced.

Fucking of the Iraqi people yet again, who in the latest BBC poll say life is worse for them and that the surge isn’t working.

Fucking of the future of America - not just of our strength in the world but our future health care, education, your children’s Social Security, our roads and bridges.

It goes on…and who is to blame? The Neocons, for sure. The party in power…the media…Our loser reps in Congress. All the bit players on the inside who see the wrongs everyday and bite their tongues either in fear or in denial.

And the American people as one. Including you and I.

The next step will be the ultimate wag the dog. A bad sequel that, someday, we will realize already played out 5 years ago. A new marketing prgram that somehow sounds familiar. After all, why change something that worked so well (and continues to)?

Those paying attention lately will not be surprised to find out the latest product will be another attack - this time on Iran. Sure, we could never send in ground troops, but we can bomb he hell out of them.

You don’t think the American people will go for it? It won’t happen again? I hope you’re right, but standby to be barraged with propaganda designed to convince say, 1/3 of the people that Iran is an imminent threat that needs to be handled. What about the other 66 percent?

Fuck the rest! That’s their feeling - these guys DO NOT CARE.

They have nothing to lose. They are going out with their biggest bang yet.

9-11. Iraq. Iran.

Cheney will be pushing it, but through his lapdog’s 9-11 memorial speech.

Start paying attention. Listen to the war drums. Be aware. Warn your friends.

Maybe as a nation we can head this one off…It will either take impeachment…or a lot of people in high places who truly are fed up…or a lot of marching in the streets.

General Petraeus’ 6-month surge report is coming soon, and I feel about as much excitement as I would watching a bad western, knowing it will be a happy ending and our hero will ride off into the sunset.

The media will be all ‘a-twitter’ for a few days, but we all know what it will say, or at least what the spin will be. Sometimes I wonder why they even bother. I guess they have to pretend…

As a nation, we’ve now forgotten the last giantly hyped ‘benchmark’ report, the Iraq Study Group report, though it was less than a year ago. This was the one we all anxiously awaited, then watched as the Bush team downplayed it and somehow decided to take a 180 degree turn and increase our troop levels.

Last week an incredibly bleak report on the Iraq political situation came and went, making news for a day or two, but likely to be forgotten. The GAO report on the Iraq surge (which could not have been more critical of the claimed progress in Iraq) was released (leaked?) a week earlier than expected, so as to make news before the White House had a chance to whitewash it (though they are still doing so).

Recently, Our fearless leader has begun a campaign of comparing this war to previous wars, somehow attempting to twist the dire struggle in Iraq to previous world struggles against fascism, or aggression, or…who knows?

Now, the man who knew nothing of Sunnis and Shiites is lecturing the country in new versions of war history which, once again, would be highly amusing if the stakes were not so depressing. As one military analyst said:

“This was history written by speechwriters without regard to history”

Now, for the first time, the Boy Commander even compares Iraq to Vietnam, after claiming for several years that the comparison is unfair. In this case his spin was so outrageous that the Washington Post reported:

“Bush’s most controversial assertion — that U.S. troops could have prevailed in Vietnam had they stayed longer — is a neoconservative fantasy that almost all historians ridicule. But the overall campaign may still work”

Where will it end?

Perhaps the more realistic (not cynical…you can’t be too cynical about these guys) will foresee the selling of some bullshit benchmark progress on the media and the people. Perhaps they will expect the WDNBOC (Wimpy-Bend over-Do Nothing-Congress) to debate it in a flurry of hot air for a few days…then once again, in fear of looking weak (or somehow not supporting the troops), hand over another $50,000,000,000 (at the least) to continue Bush’s masturbatory ’spreading of democracy.’

I think it will end, as all stories do, with an unexpected twist. One that, in hindsight, was really not so unexpected.

To be continued tomorrow. Stay tuned…

UPDATE: TO BE CONTINUED ON 9/10/07
(IN ORDER TO BRING THE CONTINUATION OF STORY ON THE EVE OF THE RELEASE OF THE ADMINISTRATIONS ‘NEW PRODUCT.’)

Iraqi legislators pass a law designed to (possibly) end the occupation of their country

How does this go unreported?

What kind of fucking proof is needed that this occupation is not desired (as claimed) by the Iraqis!

Long story short: A bill passed this week by the Iraqi parliament requires their government to seek parliamentary permission for asking the United Nations to extend the mandate of U.S.-led forces in Iraq when the existing request expires in December.

It reflects growing disenchantment with the U.S.-backed government, and particularly Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. How odd that the democrats are too paralyzed with fear to get us out, yet a contentious, 2 year old parliament may come to the rescue.

It may not be making ANY news now, but let’s see what happens in December…

Can you guess?

What does Congressman Rob Bishop have in common with this crowd?:

They both have large frickin’ BALLS!

I wrote to Congressman Bishop (R-Utah) weeks back to express my concern about the ‘troop surge,’ an idea about as handy as a downhill stairmaster (but probably more harmful).

He replied back with a well written two page letter defending the idea of a troop surge, and re-gurgitating GW Bush’s talking points like a reversible garbage disposal.

Not a big surprise from the guy that (along with Orrin Hatch) was surely a volume buyer of Bush Action figures.

But he actually had the BALLS to imply that the surge idea was recommended by the Iraq Study Group!.

Is Bishop trying to “out-hatch” Senator Orrin Hatch?

Somehow I recalled the surge idea being quite a turnaround from the recommendations of James Baker’s group.

According to their report:

“Sustained increases in US troop levels would not solve the fundamental cause of violence in Iraq, which is the absence of national reconciliation. A senior American general told us that adding US troops might temporarily help limit violence in a highly localized area. However, past experience indicates that the violence would simply rekindle as soon as US forces are moved to another area. As another American general told us, if the iraqi government does not make progress, ‘all the troops in the world will not provide security.’ Meanwhile, America’s military capacity is stretched thin; We do not have the troops or equipment to make a substantial, sustained increase in our troop presence.”

Already our military is feeling the weight of the surge. This week’s Time magazine offers a sad cover story, “America’s Broken-Down Army,” which describes the effect of yet another failed Bush policy on the young men and women of our military:

“Bush warned that if Democrats in Congress did not pass a bill to fund the war on his terms, ‘the price of that failure will be paid by our troops and their loved ones.’ But they are already paying a price for decisions he has made, and the larger costs are likely to be borne for at least a generation.”