"PROGRESS"

STAY THE COURSE? Or stay forever? The current situation in Iraq suggests that George “ Brand W” Bush’s "progress is" an illusion.  Even the “successes” he cites are mixed. Mosul wasn’t a mess until we “fixed” it.  We expect Fallujah will be fixed and see a lot more “progress” soon.  Will only spin win? Or is something more sinister slouching towards Baghdad?

“I LOVE THE SMELL OF McLELLAN IN THE MORNING. .  . It smells like complete victory.  Some day this wore is gonna end.”
Q And I have one more question. How do you define "complete" -- how does the President define "complete victory in Iraq"?
MR. McCLELLAN: Well, he actually defines "victory" in his remarks. He talked about that today. Victory is when the terrorists and Saddam loyalists no longer threaten Iraq's democracy. Victory is when the Iraqi security forces can protect their citizens. And victory is achieved when Iraq is not a safe haven from which terrorists can plot attacks against America and others in the civilized world.

THE HERETIK NOTES "safe" is something the paranoid forever chase.   Is the subject of this tale and chase the object of our own tail and fears?  Forever is a mighty long time.

RECOMMENDED ADDITIONAL READING
STEP AND REPEAT Tom Watson: George Bush looked every bit like the CEO President his handlers promised us in 2000, all Powerpoint and annual reports in front of a friendly audience (actually young men and women who are under obligation to listen attentively to their commander-in-chief) and of course, the obligatory "step and repeat" backdrop.

THE HERETIK NOTES Watson posts about Bush's first speech here.  That was Bush's first step and repeat as we slog as he sloughs off as policy lurches toward "success"  slouches toward Bethlehem Baghadad and inevitable "success."

THE LONG GRAY LINE Mannion on Carter at West Point: Fortress Iraq has always been the keystone to the Bush Leaguers' and neo-cons plans to bring "democracy" to the Mideast.
Democracy being a string of puppet governments in Iraq, Iran, and Syria, friendly to Israel and even friendlier to American oil companies.
The neo-cons and the Bush Leaguers, being cowards and bullies at heart, believe that the only way to bring about peace---a phrase which here means merely keeping American business interests abroad safe---is to scare the beejeebers out of anyone who scares them.
Plus, they have become really enamoured of, and dependent upon, the flypaper theory.
So Carter was only pointing out the obvious.  Bush can't scale back in Iraq to any great degree without giving up all his Adminstration's plans for the Mideast.

SO THE HERETIK KNOWS we will continue to see “progress” in Iraq, but never enough for us to be able to leave.

Comments

[blogenfreude]

Victory is when the terrorists and Saddam loyalists no longer threaten Iraq's democracy.
This means Iraq has to have a democracy before we go ...

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