You Stop the Killing...by STOPPING THE KILLING

Moral equivalent of a president...but a certified dingbat and sociopath.

You know, it'd be one thing if Shrub was merely expressing the sadistic will of the entire GOP when he calls for more war instead of a cease-fire in Lebanon...or insists that the world of shit he's created in Iraq doesn't, you know, stink to high heaven for both Iraqis themselves and the soldiers we've sent over. That'd still be seriously sick, particularly in light of the very REAL problems in this country that are being studiously IGNORED. But the Chimperor's demented worldview is warped to such an extent that some in his own party realize things are seriously amiss:

A key Senate Republican is calling on the Bush administration to work for an immediate cease-fire in the conflict between Israeli forces and the Lebanese-based Hezbollah militants...

In a speech on the Senate floor Monday, [Nebraska GOP Senator Charles] Hagel urged the Bush administration to do something it has so far refused: engage Syria and Iran, the main sponsors of Hezbollah. "Ultimately, the United States will need to engage Iran and Syria with an agenda open to all areas of agreement and disagreement. For this dialogue to have any meaning or possible lasting relevance, it should encompass the full agenda of issues," he said.

Hagel warned that close U.S. ties with Israel must not come at the expense of relations with the Arab and Muslim world. "The United States will remain committed to defending Israel. Our relationship with Israel is a special and historic one. But, it need not and cannot be at the expense of our Arab and Muslim relationships. That is an irresponsible and dangerous false choice. Achieving a lasting resolution to the Arab-Israeli conflict is as much in Israel's interest as any other country in the world," he said...

But Hagel said military action alone will not destroy Hezbollah, and that the pursuit of tactical military victories at the expense of the core strategic objective of Arab-Israeli peace is a hollow victory. He urged the United States to reengage Middle East and international partners to find a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Hagel, a potential presidential candidate in 2008, also offered comments about the U.S. challenges in Iraq.

"America is bogged down in Iraq, and this is limiting our diplomatic and military options. The longer American remains in Iraq in its current capacity, the deeper the damage to our force structure, particularly the U.S. Army," he said.

To paraphrase from The Merchant of Venice (and hopefully not stray into Mel Gibson territory) ALL SIDES have managed to extract not merely their pound of flesh, but literally tons of it. Continuing to kill--be it in Iraq, or Lebanon--or anywhere else for that matter--is the SUREST guarantee of even more bloodshed down the road. Charles Hegel gets this--Team Bush and their band of wingnuts seems not to comprehend.

I'm not so naiive to think that the United States has always been a paragon of virtue--too many Native Americans, African slaves, women, and "free" laborers of all ethnicities provide mute testimony to the contrary--but plenty of Americans in virtually every era recognized the sheer destructive futility of war, understood it was a LAST resort, and recognized engaging in war was virtually certain to create as many problems as it "solved." But these days, it seems as if some, beginning with the twitnut-in-chief, think of war as the first, if not sole option, for pretty much everything and anything (provided, of course, their sorry asses aren't called to the firing line)...and anyone who thinks otherwise is at least a rhetorical, if not actual "traitor."

This is dangerous on so many levels that, well, I can't really think of a joke. Because not only are we definitely losing the war in Iraq...and Afghanistan (likewise Israel is losing in Lebanon)...but we're also racing along a path of international estrangement (not such a good idea for a country dependent upon global trade), and guaranteeing the continuation of a conflict that does no one any good.

Now, I don't want to give the impression that I'm unconcerned about global terrorism, but the approach taken by Team Bush--that it's something akin to an American rules football game--is stupid, disastrous, and doesn't work (for instance, both our own military AND the IDF seem to have trouble distinguishing combatants from non-combatants). Just because American rules football is likened to war doesn't mean war can be likened to American rules football. Terrorism and other such dangers are more comparable to a cancer. And "defeating" cancer requires an approach far more intelligent than anything our "leaders" have proffered, even assuming they want to win--which, by the way, isn't a given (recall how gleeful Shrub sounded when referring to himself as "a war president").

Stopping the killing--as soon as possible--is the ONLY way to minimize even more bloodshed. That shouldn't be difficult for anyone who isn't certifiably batshit insane to comprehend.