Watch for Wheels Falling Off

Thanks to The Editors and Steve Gilliard.

Things are still pretty busy over here, but I've had a few moments to prowl around--and came across this interesting article (Gilliard's link is via Salon):

CLEVELAND -- The day after burying their son, parents of a fallen Marine urged President Bush to either send more reinforcements to Iraq or withdraw U.S. troops altogether.

"We feel you either have to fight this war right or get out," Rosemary Palmer, mother of Lance Cpl. Edward Schroeder II, said Tuesday.

Schroeder, 23, died two weeks ago in a roadside explosion, one of 16 Ohio-based Marines killed recently in Iraq.

The soldier's father said his son and other Marines were being misused as a stabilizing force in Iraq.

"Our comments are not just those of grieving parents," Paul Schroeder said in front of the couple's home. "They are based on anger, Mr. President, not grief. Anger is an honest emotion when someone's family has been violated."

The Schroeders also noted their support for Cindy Sheehan, and the military personnel in Iraq, stating, "It's not the fault of the troops. It's the fault of the plan."

The first paragraph is the real crux of the problem--there's simply no way for Team Bush to up the ante troopwise, unless any of the following occurs:

Massive enlistment on the part of the 101st Keyboarders.
A military draft that somehow manages to succeed without massive riots and/or the disintegration of the military itself.
A genuine coalition ready, willing, and able--especially the latter--of establishing a semblence of order in Iraq.

For ANY of those, lotto odds look good in comparison.

So, we're faced with, at a certain point, the inevitibility of withdrawal, and the question then becomes how many unphotographed coffins Dubya is willing to have flown in to Dover AFB in order to salve his massive ego.

Well, if there's any such thing as a sure bet, I'm pretty certain we won't see Shrubusto playing Captain Tailhook ever again.

By the way--once again, news out of Mesopotamia won't emphasize any newly painted schools because, well, upwards of 50 or so people who were alive yesterday but who are dead today--including at least 2 US soldiers--are, quite frankly, more newsworthy, regardless of how enamored wingnuttia is of the smell of fresh latex-base. Not only is the war over for those 50--so is everything else...forever.

And this sort of carnage will go on...and on...and on. Which is why a lot of "ordinary Americans" are getting off the lurching Bush bandwagon when it comes to Iraq. They recognize the level of shit storm out there on the horizon, and, at the very least, realize that this is in no way what the neo cons promised back in the halcyon days of 2002-03. If they additionally either opposed the war on moral and/or ethical grounds--or, perhaps are beginning to question, on moral and/or ethical grounds, discretionary conflict--then all the better.

Because if this is happening, the phrase "lame duck" will be too kind in regards to Bush. His place in history won't even be that of a peckerwood Nixon...it'll be more like a peckerwood Buchanan.