FIRE WITH FIRE

So Rumsfeld resigns the same day as the Republicans take a major beating at the polls because the majority of Americans do not support the ill-conceived and ill-handled, and corruption riddled War in Iraq, and George Bush has the audacity to say publicly that the election had nothing to do with it. Who does this guy think he is kidding?

Rumsfeld fell on his sword for the poor Republican showing in the election (or was forced to by Karl Rove), just like Colin Powell was forced to fall on his sword for the President's (or perhaps again it was Karl Rove's) "weapons of mass destruction" motivation for the Iraq War. That, as we have all come to know, was a lie too.

So what will we be looking at now for the War on Terror, with this potentially new landscape. Well, the Iraq War is getting a new person at the helm, Robert Gates. This is the same Robert Gates who was in Bush's father's cabinet (does the Junior Bush know ANYONE on his own or is he just taking Daddy's advice and using the same old Cold Warriors his Dad did over a decade ago). The world is a much different place than it once was and you would think the present President Bush would know defense people other than those who served under his father. But I digress.

I guess the real question is what will Gates do and how will our policy in Iraq change? Can Gates be a visionary and pull American fat out of the fryer in Iraq or will he push us deeper, faster. This administration is not very open to change or dissention so my crystal ball tells me it will be more of the same under the guise of "new and improved". However, Dick Cheney whom I suspect is one of the main drivers behind what has happened in Iraq (and one who cannot resign as Rumsfeld had to) is not a man who changes his stripes and he is a vociferous hawk on Iraq. Likewise, Bush has positioned himself with his "stay the course" rhetoric so rigidly that he cannot move much from his present position primarily because he has jeered at anyone who does not believe in his Iraq policy as "not supporting the troops" or as "cut and run". That rhetoric makes it pretty tough to shift his position without being tarred with his own brush. The jury is out, but I would not make any big plans that a plan to withdraw from Iraq is going to happen any time soon, so the fodder for terror in the Middle East can be expected to continue at least another two years.

Posted by Straight Talk on Thursday, November 09, 2006 at Thursday, November 09, 2006 | Permalink