Friday

Next week posting will hopefully be a bit more frequent; my class just let out and by Monday I'll have probably forgotten most of what I learned...oh well.

Anyway, I've been seeing quite a bit of general material floating around the internets lately as to Operation $2 billion dollars a week with neither an end nor victory anywhere in the same galaxy--Shrub hisself got a reminder of how odious the rest of the world considers his dirty war to be while in South America (along with a few extra headaches, courtesy of Chavez, Maradona, Esquivel, and even a few journalists daring to show a bit of backbone)...which might explain why, the day before yesterday, I wrote a small reminder that I, um, promptly forgot until today.

In brief, I was trying to remind myself of a few things in light of the revelations re: Plamegate, the ongoing clusterfuck in Iraq, the half-baked Democratic opposition (indeed, the unbaked opposition back in 2002), and recent non culpas brayed by the GOP in response to a grim reality that can no longer be ignored (as they haughtily did a year or so ago).

What I wrote (paraphrasing from abbreviated scribbles here) is that it's pretty clear, albeit in 2005, that an invasion of Iraq was TOTALLY unnecessary in 2003. There were no weapons of mass destruction, there was no Iraqi support for fundamentalist religious terrorism, Hussein was essentially defanged (indeed, reports are surfacing about Hussein possibly accepting exile as well as a story from, IIRC, sometime early in 2004 that Iraq was ready to accept almost ANY demand made by the US in exchange for calling off what was supposed to be Shrub's ultimate display of manliness). And, regardless of how long and shrill GOP'ers might holler, a winning political argument can be fashioned against them on that basis.

As they did this week, GOP'ers will bark and bray about the war being ultimately Bill Clinton's fault--but the public knows that's a lot of horseshit. Now with Scooter's day in court approaching, there's the slight possibility that we'll discover a LOT MORE horseshit--most of it emanating from the Executive Branch of the Federal Government, i.e., from Biggus Dickus himself (Little Lord Shrubleroy was just along for the ride).

Regardless of what one thinks of the Dems--lesser-of-evils or spineless supplicants--it's important that they yank out their baseball bats, axe handles, or whatever they've got in the arsenal and bang away at the wounded, rabid curs running the show. Hindsight or not, it was simply stupid to demand war in 2003 UNLESS it was all designed to be a political charade to allow a little man the chance to don a flightsuit and strut around like a damn peacock on the USS Abrahan Lincoln. Anyone reading this humble blog already knows about the lack of basic equipment for soldiers, the piss-poor planning that went into the conflict itself, the lack of understanding the region (including an appalling lack of decent Arabic speakers), the incompetent if not outright criminal insistence on ordering the WMD snipe hunt while ignoring conventional weapons that daily extract their toll on US soldiers, Iraqi civilians, and so on--and finally, the gigantic Mess-o-Potamia that only the MOST delusional (see Rice, Condoleezza) believe can be rectified with...yet more sham elections. All resulting in a blunder of such massive proportions that nobody really wants to consider the consequences--consequences which will be all too real, even for the reality denying branch of the GOP.

(side note: a little off topic, but the Jeffrey Goldberg article on reality based GOP'er Brent Scowcroft is now available online and is worth a look).

Oh--and while Dick and Shrub's ship of fools dumps money into the desert, they've suddenly discovered their inner miser when it comes to helping citizens suffering in their OWN country.

By this time next year, assuming Team Bush continues to display their telltale obstinate behavior, we'll be up to $300 billion or so in Iraq spending, casualties will likely be roughly 2800 or so dead, 23,000 wounded on the US side, lord knows how many more Iraqis--and the situation will be, AT BEST, the same. $300 billion is an awful lot to spend just to stay in place, particularly when "in place" also involves shattered bodies and more coffins.

But remember, regardless of who voted for what, this is TEAM BUSH'S war--THEY decided when to invade, THEY decided on the strategy, THEY handled all the logistics. It's their baby--and it's an ugly child. Unfortunately, we're ALL paying for it.

Which is why, come the next election cycle, we need to pin this debacle where it belongs--squarely on THEIR shoulders. And we need to remind the public that, regardless of how they feel about government, at the very least we need competent public servants--not village idiots who equate playing soldier with being strong.

Have a good weekend.