Grasping at Straws

Well, Shrubya must be feeling a little on the down and outs--because, as he usually does when prone to what substitutes for introspection in the summery, blast-furnace air contained in his cranium, he called upon the vision of 9/11 to grant him strength...or, more precisely, to stifle any nagging doubts in the public regarding Operation "Those Weapons of Mass Destruction Have Got to be Here Somewhere--yuk, yuk."

Bush plans to follow up with yet another rousing death cheer, stopping off in Idaho and Utah this week to "articulate" the, um...stay the course. Because it's clear now to all with more than a few functioning brain cells and neurons that what Team Bush calls a "plan" is actually "hope." And "hope" is not a plan.

Dauphin Dimwit will be desperately pressing the easy button this week, while the slime machine continues to do the dirty work, but reality--so disdained by the cloud-god worshippers occupying the White House--continues to rear an exceptionally ugly head over the most visible part of BushVision, namely, the perfect storm in Mesopotamia.

Billmon, citing Juan Cole and others, has two posts up regarding the impending mini-me Iranian-style Islamic Republic...ok, it won't be an exact clone, but it's starting to look a LOT more "Islamic" than Shi'a Lite, particularly in regards to women's rights--which, as you might expect, are of little concern to the Bush cabal (duh--they nominated John Roberts for the S.C.), even if they used THAT as--oh, I forget, excuse number 33(?) for invading the country (for the record, Team Bush is equally willing to throw women to the wolves--almost literally--in their other neocon project over in Afghanistan). The US soldier death count continues to steadily rise, and last week Robert Fisk put some definitive numbers on the Iraqi toll, at least for one month--1,100 in Baghdad alone...which means the cost to Iraqis might well be higher than some tend to estimate.

When not embracing Islam, by the way, certain elements in Iraq have adopted methods that remind people of...Saddam Hussein--which should be about as surprising to anyone as seeing the sun rise in eastern skies each morning. And, lest there be any doubt that Project Iraq is utterly FUBAR, the undead corpse of Henry Kissinger managed to bang out a smug little op-ed this weekend--well, smug regarding his own "accomplishments" back in the day, but decidedly pessimistic when it comes to figuring out a graceful exit from the desert.

Finally, Oyster has a superb post up along somewhat similar lines, but he goes on the note the NECESSITY of DISCUSSING exactly why it is that we are in such a mess--and I think that's a good idea.

Almost from the moment it became clear that the aircraft carrier stunt--and the associated "bring 'em on" crack--were co-equals in being literally off the scale in a measure of stupidity, there have been those (see Oyster's post) who've argued that the bull is out of the barn, as it were, and that's that. True, but IGNORING the numbnuts who opened the barn door--while THEY, on the other hand, go out of the way to slime anyone and everyone who thinks we might want to wait before bestowing honors and privileges upon them--make it quite clear that a discussion is a good idea. And since they see nothing wrong with playing hard ball, then maybe we should do the same.

Besides--it's NOT too much to ask for a genuine plan regarding Iraq. Same with bin Laden. Same with Afghanistan. Same with the economy. And let's not confuse leading with cheerleading.

Hope is not a plan.