my own drum

The title of this article links to the pdf version of the Iraq Study Group Report. That report is the second kick to 'stay the course', the first coming on the day after elections. 'Stay the course' as official public policy is a dead horse, finally. And as Bushes go, this ranks right up there with "Read my lips, no new taxes". President Bush has attempted to build a Bush legacy for the White House, and he wrongly decided to utilize much of the braintrust of his fathers presidency. The legacy may not go down so well after all.

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Ann Richards summed up George Bush better than anyone when she said, "Poor George, he can't help it. He was born with a silver foot in his mouth". As the Commander in Chief and President of the United States of America, that silver foot in his mouth is costing the citizens of this country with the lives of young men and women, soldiers who volunteered to defend the ideals of our nation, not to defend the poorly cobbled international policy of a group of political elitists. And please don't forget that many more lives have been lost in Iraq as a direct result of our involvement in their affairs. Personally, I wish there had at least been some justification for wreaking all of this havoc in Iraq, but at last we discovered there was none. One fiasco soon followed another, all the while the political elite is busily glad-handing one another and doling out slogans for the masses.

Finally the truth of this situation must be borne, it remains to be seen how honest our administration can be. America expects the best, and for better or worse it is time to own up to our responsibility and to find a way to end this situation gracefully for all parties involved. And that won't be easy. Have you ever seen the cartoon where the wolf swings a bat at the beehive, and all the bees swarm after him. That's similar to what we've done, swung a bat at a beehive. Now the task is to get those bees back into their hive. If this were a cartoon that would be easy to accomplish, but no one is laughing, this is real, and people are dying as a result.

I'm still rambling-need to get back to this thought later.

in effect, pushing Iraq into total anarchy

-- lets not forget the scene immediately following the invasion of Baghdad --


I know far less about all of the details of our foreign policy than the average politician. Many high level politicians apparently still don't know enough about our foreign policy. A few days I supported the idea of including Syria and Iran into the mix, in order to help make peace in the region. It makes sense to me since they are neighbors, despite what little I know about their differences. Now I've discovered that other Arab nations are not keen on this idea at all, and it all comes down to religious and political differences. Everyone it seems wants peace and stability, but not at the expense of losing ground, literally, politically, or religiously. Where is Mahatma Ghandi when we need him.