Platitudes and Nonsense


Reading one of Billmon's latest posts--and the link to the Asia Times article--should make it even more clear to anyone who isn't batshit insane that Little Lord Shrubleroy and his band of synchophants really ARE, at this point, exhibiting traits best described as, well, psychopathic:

Through the course of a single week, the US and France came as close to a bitter split over Middle East policy as they had on the eve of the Iraq war. At issue in the confrontation was a US insistence that an international force (led by France) be deployed to Lebanon prior to the declaration of a ceasefire - a requirement the French thought ludicrous. They weren't the only ones.

"The position that we're taking in the UN is just nuts," a former White House official close to the US decision-making process said during the negotiations. "The US wants to put international forces on the ground in the middle of the conflict, before there's a ceasefire. The reasoning at the White House is that the international force could weigh [in] on the side of the Israelis - could enforce Hezbollah's disarmament."

"the international force could weigh [in] on the side of the Israelis..." or could just as easily find themselves caught in a quagmire not at all unlike what Jon Stewart calls "Mess 'o Potamia," with similar consequences...at best.

This, by the way, is supposedly Dubya's--or, perhaps more honest, Team Bush's biggest "asset,"--that is, ultimately relying on some sort of "gut decision" from Shrub (if I recall, the "gut decision" is usually a reaction to the last person who catches his ear), and sticking with it regardless of the consequences.

Sort of a "let's keep slamming our head against the wall" approach. Because that's certainly what we're doing in Iraq...well, to an extent.

Because, let's be real: the folks who's heads are getting slammed against the wall--over and over--AREN'T in any position to relay their feelings to the inner circle in Crawford. Besides, even if they WERE, I doubt the boy-king would have much of a reaction.

Have you ever noticed how ANNOYED Shrub sounds when forced to consider the consequences of his actions? It's become rote: "America mourns the loss of innocent life", almost exasperated...sort of a pre-emptive "shut up." A candid admission of both complicity...and total lack of remorse. That lack of remorse extends to the soldiers who've been killed as well--the usual cliche is something like "we mourn their loss and honor their sacrifice," again, with a distinct LACK of evident appreciation of what that actually means:

"The Bush people have never heard a shot fired in anger, and it's apparent," an official in the UN Secretary General's Office noted. "The French were quite fearful that one miscalculation, one stray rocket could set the region on fire. No one in Washington seemed willing to admit that as a possibility."

On the other hand, plenty of folks HAVE heard shots fired in anger--most have managed to, amazingly, keep a more or less level frame of mind...but not all, as we seem to find out far too often to dismiss as "isolated instances." And even when NOT wondering what the latest overt atrocity might be, the truth is that the "freedom" this ever-more-distant-from-reality pResident barks about is anything but, both for native residents AND anyone else:

Baghdad as I knew it is dying. No doubt there will be a city of that name on the banks of the Tigris in the future. But its special magic, the fact that gave the city its peculiar allure, was its complex ethnic and religious mix of Shia, Sunni and Kurds. It is this diversity of cultures that is disappearing. Small Christian sects present in Mesopotamia since the second century after Christ are finally being dispersed. They know they are the targets both of Islamic fundamentalists and kidnappers who see Christians as being rich and defenseless, a fatal combination in present-day Iraq.

And what's the reaction from Washington--or Crawford? When there IS a reaction, it's either platitudes or nonsense. Or a mix of both. As if the unfolding events were mere dots on a distant horizon, lacking in any particular meaning.

Which might well be the case for someone who, when asked to name his proudest accomplishment as president, cited catching a 7 and a half pound bass...that had been stocked in his lake.