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McCain, Iraq, and Bush's Third Term
The trap could not have been more tightly woven. On Tuesday, March 11, Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced the resignation of Admiral William Fallon, the head of Central Command and the top-ranking military officer in the Middle East.
Fallon was the superior of General David Petraeus. Today, with Fallon gone and Petraeus unresisted, we got the news we knew was coming. The numbers of American troops in Iraq will be maintained at their present level through the election year of 2008.
This announcement will hardly cause a ripple in the protocols of docile support which the mainstream media have followed ever since March 2007: first, take the war off the front page and (so far as possible) out of the range of coverage; then repeat from a great distance the words "The surge is working."
It was commonly assumed (by those who think about such things) that the forced resignation of Admiral Fallon signaled the desire of Dick Cheney and George W. Bush to open a path to bombing Iran. Fallon had always been skeptical about starting another war in the region; he said aloud that a war against Iran "won't happen on my watch"; unlike Cheney and Bush, he trusted the National Intelligence Estimate on Iran more than the latest war blueprints from the American Enterprise Institute. While Fallon was head of CentCom, he worked to muffle the explosive effects of the provocations to Iran that emanated from the Office of the Vice President and its point-men at the Pentagon and in the Senate (Joe Lieberman). Thus, when, in early January, a fractious encounter between Iranian speedboats and coalition warships in the Strait of Hormuz threatened to ignite a war, Fallon, quietly and behind the scenes, talked the fury down. He made sure that even the cable networks came to understand that American ships had never been in immediate danger. He allowed his staff to say this sort of thing happened often in the Gulf.
Yet Iran was not the short-term object when Fallon was asked to resign. A few days earlier, he had publicly declared his view that American troops should start their withdrawal from Iraq. General Petraeus's design for an indefinite prolongation of the surge was subject to Fallon's approval; and Fallon let it be known that he would not approve. Rather, there would be a short pause, and then the first steps of the drawing-down. It was this that got him fired.
The pieces hardly need to be put together. Petraeus told George W. Bush he could not pursue his strategy if Fallon vetoed it. Either Fallon must go, or the surge must dwindle from the de facto permanent policy it now appears to be, and become instead the temporary measure it was originally sold as. President Bush took the point and Fallon was out.
Of course, Iran may be the larger game in view. But the short-term purpose, as always with Cheney and Bush, is also and emphatically political. So long as the surge hangs on and more Americans die who must not have died in vain, the Bush occupation strategy remains the unpleasant but inevitable policy: the thing we have to do. Unless Petraeus is challenged or stopped, the futility of the surge will never be debated. For the mainstream media have been read into the program. Their eyes are shut, their ears are closed, and the words they speak continually are "The surge is working."
Was there also a hidden value for Bush and his chosen successor, John McCain, in the sacking of Fallon to give a free pass to Petraeus? This transition which is no transition puts all the burden of continuing or stopping the war on the next president. But that presents no difficulties to McCain; he wants the war to go on. If, on the other hand, a Democrat is elected who wants to stop the war, he will have to fight uphill against an incantation that says, "But the surge was working!--You!--It was you who lost Iraq!"
This strategy was used with profit in Germany, in the 1920s and 1930s, to help overthrow the Weimar Republic. It was called the "Dolchstoss Theory" (stab in the back). Nothing about the moral history of Dick Cheney, George W. Bush, and the neoconservatives who commandeered this war from the start can make us doubt that they would promulgate such a theory with relish.
For President Bush, his walking away from (by handing on) the wreck he made of an entire country will only be the last such act in a career of destruction and evaded responsibilities. Remorse and chagrin are beyond him. Yet he knows what it looks like to others; and Petraeus and the surge are the only facade behind which he can retreat into a life of dignified partying and written talks about the religious meaning of democracy.
For the American people, a third term of Bush's war in Iraq presents a graver prospect. Few can take as lightly as the younger Bush the putting to flight of four million refugees, the killing of hundreds of thousands of civilians, the degradation of the American army, and the protraction of enormous risks to our soldiers in a foreign occupation whose purpose was always obscure.
The opposition really have no more choice than John McCain. They cannot do half so well as McCain the one thing he can be relied on to do: inherit and maintain the Bush war policy in 2009, and make sure the Iraq war (and perhaps new wars) are still going in 2013. If they want to have a chance, and if they mean to fight off the Dolchstoss explanation which is already eddying in the lower reaches of talk radio and the chambers of the AEI, the opposition must educate the American public about Iraq. Tell how the war began, what the lies were that got us in, the way the strategy miscarried at every stage, and the reasons why the "blunders" of the war are not confined to the scapegoats Bremer and Rumsfeld but permeate a policy that assumed it was right for American soldiers to settle in Iraq. The permanent bases must be brought to the light of public discussion. What are they for? What good, and what harm, can be expected from our evident construction of an American garrison for operations in West Asia?
It has long been clear that the American occupation of Iraq has warped our relations with much of the world. It is long past time that we discussed openly what interests were felt to outweigh the apparent self-interest of the United States.
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Nor must we allow ourselves to be swayed, sir, by the notion that we somehow will have lost some number of (meaningless) billion$ when those criminal bases are abandoned, as they must eventually be. Such a thorn in the side of West Asian peoples is no doubt meant to somewhat obfuscate the visibility of another long time occupier of lands NOT theirs ...in that same general area, offending those same peoples. Seemingly always in tune with your words, Dr. B, thank you.
You have to wonder why they are willing to throw the nation into the toilet, what motivates them to destroy their own with such inhumane coolness. I cannot fathom it, myself. But the voters deserve what they get, I do think.
You want to know what motivates them? It's really simple, and can be summed up in one word (though not the word that Cheney would use!):
PROFIT!!!
Folks, We attack Iran, Russia defends Iran ( they're next door neighbors ) by attacking the Oil Fields in Saudi Arabia; World War 3; it's coming soon.
Start getting used to it.
How shocking that American military forces will remain in Iraq until after Chancellor Cheney and Deputy Dubya depart the scene and immediately start blaming their successors for their unforced disaster. How shocking that increases in violence and decreases in violence lead always to the troops staying in Iraq to cover for this obvious stall. How shocking to discover that budget surpluses and budget deficits equally demand tax cuts for the wealthy. How shocking that the quisling Democrats in Congress just can't wait to write another enormous blank rubber check to further indenture future generations to pay for what they never had a choice about in the first place. How shocking that the Nixon-Kissinger Fig Leaf Contingent in Southeast Asia has morphed into the Cheney-Bush Buy Time Brigade in the Middle East. How shocking that the docile American pet press will swallow and pass along to the people any bullshit propaganda designed and developed by our government to deceive us. How shocking to find gambling in Rick's Casino in Casablanca.
In this Administration- the R’s (and I don’t mean Republicans) are trying to destroy our (human) way of life.
The time to fight for freedom is the time when freedom is threatened, not the time freedom is destroyed, and for that later time is too late. Freedom is threatened now. The destruction of freedom is not far off. Now is the time to fight.
John Whiteside Parsons
Yes the sad Third Term of GW-- IT MUST NOT HAPPEN.
MWiz of- truthseeke
His thirst for scapegoats shows how poorly George Bush understands the meaning of Easter
http://www
McCain's gaffe -- erroneously asserting that al Qaeda was receiving training in Iran -- is a perfect example of the why this entire fiasco has been a disaster from day one. He, exactly like his mentor Bush, displays a complete ignorance of the people, cultures and factions that comprise the region in which he wants to keep our troops for "100 years." Worse still, he seems to exude an arrogance concerning his evident lack of knowledge and understanding of the "Islamic region." And this guy is supposed to be the expert on the war, the candidate most qualified to command the "war on terrorism?" Honestly, all that I see in this man is someone who is chomping at the bit to expand this war into Iran, to "win the war on terrorism" by grinding the "Islamo-fascists" into the ground (which would undoubtedly compound our international problems tenfold, guarenteeing future acts of terrorism in America). They believe that if we could just kill all of those terrorist, down to the very last one, then we will have won the war, George Bush and John McCain will go down in history as great presidents equal to Abraham Lincoln, and all of these "defeatocrats" will have been proven to be wrong about everything. If anybody actually believes this crap, then I have some swampland in Florida they might be interesed in.
BS - you don't have any swampland in Florida. It's all been paved over for development.
Insert appropriate emoticon for "Ironic kidding"
Why should McCain educate himself on the cultures and religious groups in Iraq? He just wants to be the next president, not some "uppity" scholar like John Kerry, John Edwards, Al Gore, or Barack Obama.
When we elect ignorant, ethnocentric dry-drunk idiots for presidents (like W), we end up with "leaders" who readily invade other countries, thinking that our "Shock and Awe" military strategy is all that it takes to "win" a war (hence, the infamous "dress-up" pic of the chimp, in his macho flier's outfit, arrogantly standing beneath the "mission accomplished" banner). But hold on a sec...W didn't bother to educate himself about the possibility that Iraq's two main religious factions, the Sunni and the Shiite, might just begin a Civil War as they jostled for power following the ousting of Saddam Hussein. Now, years after W's idiotic photo-op, we have spent hundreds of billions of dollars, lost thousands of American lives, and ruined our global reputation, because the chimp-in-chief didn't bother to educate himself about the possibility of a Civil War between the Sunni and Shiite. "Sunni and Shiite...w
Great post,I assume most of your readers are literate so you're preaching to the choir.Only the economic fallout will turn the population against this disaster,since there is no draft.The Neocons have taken over the bridge of the ship of state and their control will be perpetuated if anyone but Obama gets the WH.
While he SEEMS to be the LESSER of THREE EVILS, don't be fooled by the LIES, obama wants to expand the ILLEGAL WAR of AGGRE$$ION in Afghanistan & start a new ILLEGAL WAR of AGGRE$$ION in Pakistan. I'd bet that he'd come up with TRILLION$ of "rea$on$" why he can't get the troops out of Iraq. obama has NEVER voted AGAINST FUNDING for the ILLEGAL WAR$ of AGGRE$$ION or AGAINST ATTACKS on our RIGHTS & FREEDOMS ( renewals of the so-called "patriot" act).
So it must be one of teh seemingly greater evils who's really the best, right?
wow..... That's impressive! You've completely bought into the worst that Rush has said!
I agree Paddywhack.
Sounds like there may be a Hundred Year Plan already in motion!
Question: how long have we been in South Korea? For those of you who don't American history (which appears to be a lot of you on this blog!) that answer would be: 58 years. I don't hear any Republican or Democrat saying that we should leave that country!
Great commentary
The MSM in their rush to manipulate and control the election, are deep into their love affair with "myfriends" McCain-bush. It is a shame that they can not report some on McCain same things that they are using to vilify both Clinton and Obama ad nauseum. But nope..ethi
They stabbed the entire world in the back, and it’s not just the location of the bases but the back room deal they made last month with al Maliki when Iraq's parliament was out. Maliki cancelled all existing contracts for oil and gas with multi-national corporations. The next day stated that negotiations would commence with only the 5 Majors (Exxon, Chevron). The next day his Oil Prime Minister and Turkey's Oil Prime Minister issue a joint press release announcing negotiation with the 5 Majors. Now they say it’s for 2 year agreements to support or assist in the exploration of oil and gas and that contracts will be signed later, however we all know contracts can have extensions, options, and morph easily into a 30 year deal. Hence the bases would serve their purpose. The bases we built in Afghanistan follow the much aligned and fought over Exxon oil pipeline identically. Could it be that Cheney flew over Iraq and Turkey to "seal this deal" . Why is Sadr going crazy today? What is the MSN not getting? The fact is that the Iraq people, whatever federal region or religious faction they fall into see the Sting. The oil is being stolen, without parliamentary approval, probably over the dead bodies of Iraqi soldiers and our US soldiers who I read an hour ago are in assistance with Iraqi Soldiers in Basra. Stab in the back, more like a stab to the jugular. Thanks Cheney. Thanks Rice, So?
"The trap could not have been more tightly woven."
Your first sentence says it all. This administration has one goal in mind. They intend to kick the can down the road until the clock runs out in January 09. I am disgusted with MSM and refuse to listen to their garbage.
The Republicans have helped Bush pull the wool over the eyes of the public for the past 7 years. Therefore there isn't a Republican on God's green earth who deserves to win the White House in November.
The Bush regime has been using the Dolchstoss paradigm for quite some time. As you say, Obama (Hillary, if she steels the nomination would not be credible for a variety of reasons, needs to make the reality clear. Of course, reality has a way of getting through the propaganda. I suspect that, by November, the true nature of facts, including the economic crisis caused by the hemorrhage of assets brought on by the world conquest plans of the putative Bush-McCain regime will make it easy to put aside the GOP Dolchstoss legende. Unlike in Weimar, the war is not a thing of the past; its damages are present, continuing and ongoing. Another reminder of Weimar presented by the present situation is the devaluation of currency as the sign of collapse.
John McCain has never agreed with the assertion that U.S. involvement in Viet Nam was a mistake. The problem he thought, was that we weren't commited enough.
And that's the same tack he's taking with Iraq. While Hillary's throwing kitchen sinks and Barack Obama, Senator McCain wants to do the same to Al Qaeda, and Iran, who unbeknownst to many, including Al Qaeda and Iran, are now allied against the United States as a team.
His ignorance about economics is in fact superceded by this ignorance about the Middle East. But then his buddy George W. didn't realize Shiite and Sunni's were warring sects until after he invaded their country, and didn't understand 60 % of the country, impoverised by decades of Sunni Bathist rule had gravitated to Shiah, and Allah, the way the poor in this country gravitate towards Christ. He didn't realize delivering democracy, a form of government in which majority rules would open Pandoras box, and the possibility of alignment with who...you guessed it Iran.
What McCain and Bush fail to realize, more than anything, is that democracy can never work in a country like Iraq, predicated on their failure to accept its foundational tenet : that all men are created equal.
You're wrong about one thing. Democracy could work in Iraq, just like it could work in ANY country throughout the world. The only problem is that Democracy NEVER works when it is forced down from the top, or in from the outside. Democracy REQUIRES popular support before it will ever work. The people have to know what it is, and prefer it to what they've got!
the surge is working , the surge is working, the surge is working, repeat after me the surge is working, and the band played on as the ship went down
Give me a hand rearranging the deck chairs!
Sorry, I can't, I'm busy making snowballs with this ice that I found on deck!
It is working. In January of this year we had 39 combat related deaths in Iraq. In the city of Detroit, for that same month, we had 35 murders!
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