The Petraeus Report

With the much anticipated report by Gen. David Petraeus on the situation in Iraq having just been delivered to the Congress, and with President Bush hearing from yet another subordinate precisely what he wants to hear, we now know that US policy on the war in Iraq will remain unchanged.

That is, the surge of troops which was introduced into Baghdad beginning in January of this year- roughly 30,000 of them- will be withdrawn slowly over a similar time span, 6 months or so, until we return to the same number as before.

The increase will become a drawdown.

We should all be happy as clams according to the White House. Missing in the report and in the Presidents speech was the fact that from the time of the announcement of the troop surge in January thru last week when the President announced his decision, the US has lost another 762 soldiers in Iraq. And during that time, the Iraqi government has failed to meet most if not all of the “benchmarks” put down by the President as prerequisites for continuing to provide them with more time, more money, more blood, and more U.S. sacrifice. Doubtless, most Americans won’t be buying that argument.

It may be too much to ask that Congress, as it moves forward with its effort to grow a spine, will come to realize, as have the American people, that supporting the troops and enabling the pursuit of a failed policy in Iraq, are not the same things. With just 14 months remaining till the next election, the White House is clearly aiming towards running out the clock on the war, dumping this intractable mess on the White House Lawn, and leaving it there for the next President to clean up. Perhaps the most prudent course for congress to follow now would be to simply pass legislation to cut off funding for the war and force it’s supporters to vote in opposition to the cut off, and the White House to veto it. At least then everybody knows whose side everyone else is on. And an informed electorate is a very dangerous thing to an ineffectual government.

House Minority Whip John Bainer said in a speech last week “ A free Iraq is an anchor of stability in the region and any sacrifice WE make is worth it”. How easy is it to say the sacrifice of OTHERS is worth it in the pursuit of a policy that makes lies sound like truth, which makes immorality sound like virtue? The only thing Bainer sacrificed was his intellectual honesty, his integrity and his self-respect.

Gen. Petraeus was confronted by Republican Senator John Warner from Virginia in what was truly a remarkably simple yet eloquently put question.” Will following your recommendations on the war in Iraq make America safer?” he asked. After a few painful moments the General answered.

“I don’t know”. He said, “I haven’t looked at that.” Clearly he is a man of integrity and if Petraeus could’ve said it, he would’ve said it!

It was enough to drive Democrats in congress into the dark corners of their own conscience.

In his speech, Bush again invoked the memory of 9-11 as the central organizing principle of the War in Iraq. At one point, he said “Al Quida in Iraq wants to attack us here in the U.S.” The White House knows all too well that the dusty winds of 9-11 still sweep across this land and they will continue to cynically use it to cover up with it’s blood stained dust, as many of their sins of poor judgments as possible. While Sergeants and Corporals and Privates, continue to die in Iraq executing their policy, those responsible for this stain simply continue to lie to the American people.

George Orwell once observed that Nationalism is power hunger tempered by self-deception. He said that when war comes, it is always represented to the population as self-defense against a homicidal maniac. It is the moneyed class that profits from war, not those who must fight it.

“War is peace”, he said.” Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength. We have now sunk to a depth at which restatement of the obvious has become the duty of intelligent men.”

“If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they may not want to hear. In times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act”

This revolution IS being televised and I pray to God, everyone is now watching.