From a Star Tribune editorial, 12/1/06:
http://www.startribune.com/561/story/846026.html
Bush talks nonsense about situation in Iraq
His pronouncements now bear no resemblance to reality.
When President Bush pronounced Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki "the
right guy for Iraq" Thursday, it recalled Bush's infamous "heck of a
job" comment about FEMA Director Michael Brown's incompetent response
to Hurricane Katrina.
Both comments say more about Bush than Brown or Al-Maliki:
On Iraq, as on Katrina, Bush has completely slipped the moorings of
reality.
Even as the president was speaking to Al-Maliki in Amman, Jordan,
rival Shiite and Sunni groups in Baghdad -- including those controlled
by Al-Maliki's patron, cleric Muqtada al-Sadr -- were massing for
all-out battle.
Bloodshed in the capital has reached its highest level since the
American invasion.
Whatever happens now in Iraq will have little to do with what the
United States wants to happen.
Bush showed the clear unreality of his views during a stop in Latvia
earlier in the week.
He refused to acknowledge the civil war that is plain to see;
pronounced, incredibly, that Al-Qaida is the major threat in Iraq, and
pledged, again, that he would "not pull American troops off the
battlefield before the mission is complete."
If the troops still have an actual mission in Iraq, it should be to
hunker down and stay safe until someone figures out how to get them
home.
The Iraq Study Group is searching for that way.
Its report, due to Bush next week but leaked to the New York Times
Wednesday, pushes Bush to begin withdrawing U.S. combat brigades in
the new year.
The bipartisan group's consensus recommendations avoid setting a
timetable because it knew Bush would reject that out of hand.
But it was determined, as one source told the Times, to "move the
national debate from whether to stay the course to how do we start
down the path out."
Members of the group clearly aim for their report to play a role.
While Bush most likely will reject its call to begin troop
withdrawals, many worried congressional Republicans will find in the
report the cover they need to begin distancing themselves from the
president.
A bipartisan effort is likely to take shape in Congress early next
year to press Bush into pulling troops.
That's the study group's intended effect:
It believes that unless the Iraqis see that Bush is under pressure to
begin withdrawals, they will have "zero sense of urgency to reach the
political settlement that needs to be reached," as one source told the
Times.
The report also spends considerable time outlining aggressive
diplomacy it believes the Bush administration should undertake in the
region, including contact with Iran and Syria that Bush has repeatedly
rejected.
Throughout its deliberations, the study group worried that its report
might come too late, and it may have, especially given Bush's
continuing refusal to confront reality.
A horrific bloodletting may now be inevitable in Iraq no matter what
anyone wants.
We hope this report, with the pressure it will put on both Bush and
Al-Maliki, can help avoid that, but it's a long shot.
Through arrogance, willful ignorance and stubborness, Bush has created
in Iraq a real dog's breakfast -- a mess.
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And this maniac's got his finger on the nuclear button.
Harry
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