LOST TIME IS NOT FOUND AGAIN

Onward in this macabre effort to stabilize the Middle East through de-stabilization-- New Central Commander Admiral Fallon has acknowledged the miscalculation of our policy elites with regard to the initial and ongoing fiasco in Iraq-- Most senior officers in the military have spent their entire careers working up and through the vagaries of careerism to one day earn a major command-- The one offered may not match the requisite talents of the man or may not match the man to the most optimal extant situation-- Chances are they accept the offer in a 'can do' spirit and set about to make the most and/or best of the situation-- In some situations the handwriting is on the wall as to the efficacy of any change of tactics in turning around a seriously deteriorating condition but honor, duty and country does call--

Lt. Gen. David Petraeus accepted such a call in President Bush's new war plan but his comments to Congress and the American people reflect in no uncertain terms how difficult he perceives his mission to be--"None of this will be rapid," told the Senate Armed Services Committee....The way ahead will be neither quick nor easy......The situation in Iraq is dire. The stakes are high. There are no easy choices. The way ahead will be very hard. ... But hard is not hopeless...."-- Any denial of hopelessness always reflects the severe abscence of any visibly rudimentary control of the situation on the pertaining ground but Petraeus game as a flaming pissant(an old Australian compliment honoring high degree of mettle) has accepted the gambit--

"The military forces that successfully defeat insurgencies are usually those able to overcome their institutional inclination to wage conventional war,'' the U.S. military's counterinsurgency manual says, "The side that learns faster and adapts more rapidly wins.'' The manual co-authored by Petraeus(Princeton PHD) himself along with Marine Lieutenant General James Amos, was revised for the first time in 20 years-- Such insight might have been better employed in 2003 or early 2004 but overcoming 'institutional inclination to wage conventional war' was not an option especially given the administration's recalcitrant and blindly petulant efforts during this period to, first, deny any insurgency existed and, later, to deny any sectarian/civil war had even begun allthewhile hectoring those who publicly disagreed-- Petraeus didn't receive his orders to re-author the manual until late 2005-- So much for quicker learning or faster adaptation-- We are way behind the curve here and as knowledgeable and as talented as Petraeus appears to be is he not being asked to execute a fatally bankrupt strategy many a day too late and many a dollar too short???--

So too Admiral Fallon Cent Com who gets his theater command shift late in the day with respect to Iraq-- Like Petraeus he is not blind to the hard facts on the dusty ground and offers a litany of caveats to our ability to prevail at least militarily-- Political progress including the Iraqi government's acquiesence to a hydrocarbon law giving American Oil Companies the lion's share of future oil pumping rights and profits with the disparate sectarian groups receiving proportionate leftovers sufficient enough to induce them to lay down their arms(such are pipedream plans in DC) and all this must precede any such military success on our part, hence, the caveats.... "What we've been doing is not working. We've got to be doing something different," he said. "I believe there will have to be a firm understanding that we are not in an open-ended situation where we're just going to sit around and wait for things to happen............I believe in giving the Iraqis some time. How much time I don't know. But time is running out...." --

The question here is 'running out' for who????--- The Iraqi government can't even put together a quorum-- It appears that these political hacks have actually been living in Europe most of the time and occasionally fly into the Green Zone to pick up their mail and join in a Lobster Fest-- At the same time, Fallon demurs that it would be "wise to temper our expectations....Let's get an assessment of what's realistic and what's practical and maybe we ought to redefine the goals here a bit and do something that is more realistic in terms of getting some progress, and then maybe take on the other things later".--

Sorry, this is not can do confidence speaking-- A naval theater commander suddenly thrust into theater command of a failed state (fait accompli) and a raging guerilla style sectarian ground war would be a stretch were it the real reason Fallon won this lateral promotion-- He seems to be saying with little if any obfuscation that Iraq is so close to being a basket case realistically that we should turn our attention ("then maybe take on the other things later.") to, what say, a possible aerial engagement of Iran which would be more in line with his naval/carrier expertise-- Asking at such a late date for an "assessment of what's realistic and what's practical" is truly damning and were it not so tragic would be laughable-- My God, can anyone in DC discern reality anymore??-- Do any of these senior commanders ever leave the Green Zone for first hand evidence of boots-on-the-ground facts or do they rely totally on briefings given by those currying their favor??--

Meanwhile congressional attempts to offer non-binding resolutions to facilitate some kind of solution to the mess appear to be dramatically and irresolutely faltering-- Void of real courage political cant and high profile accusation appear to be the order of the day-- The blustery resolution chimera occupies the fickle congress while the winds of more war blow Iranward-- The rhetoric sharply increases daily but skirmishing on the ground has begun in Iraq-- The US roundup of Iranian operatives at the so called consulate answered by the Karbala holy city raid that kidnapped and killed four American soldiers that is now being ascribed to Iranian special force revolutionary guard types because of the level of sophistication--

The failure in Iraq now belongs to the Iranians goes the newest Bush deflection and the meek mouse-hearted demies search for their Aipac cushioned holes while the repo-men on the other side of the aisle bluster and fume about responsibilites unmet years ago-- A complete abdication of present duty where no one offers a profile in courage or a legitimate and credible antithesis to the negative events unfolding so quickly around Iran-- No wonder VP Cheney arrogantly and contemptuously dismissed any potential effort by the new demi-Congress to stop their plans to escalate war drums into Iran-- They can't and they won't-- "In the case of Iraq, Democrats have demonstrated that they are just as capable of letting American service members die in order to preserve their own political ambition as their Republican counterparts are," Scott Ritter the Marine who valiantly stood opposed to the menace of Neocon War in Iraq now watches his tragic pre-war predictions of acute disaster coming incontrovertibly true--

Rattled by these sharp-edged developments occurring hourly even the harried ineffectual leader of the faux government in Iraq Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki echoes the trepidation many Middle Easterners feel, "We have told the Iranians and the Americans, `We know that you have a problem with each other but we're asking you, please, solve your problems outside of Iraq'...We do not want the American forces to take Iraq as a base to attack Iran ... we will not accept Iran using Iraq to attack American forces. But does this exist? It exists and I assure you it exists." Mr. Malicki, most Americans are completely oblivious to these events and frankly they don't want the real world to intrude upon their Super Bowl Sunday with all its commercial hoopla and surrounding fantasy--

"But this country is at a grave crossroads. It craves leadership. When Mr. Webb
spoke on Tuesday, he stepped into that vacuum and, for a few minutes anyway,
filled it. It's not merely his military credentials as a Vietnam veteran and a
former Navy secretary for Ronald Reagan that gave him authority, or the fact
that his son, also a marine, is serving in Iraq. It was the simplicity and
honesty of Mr. Webb's message"--Frank Rich

Yes, Mr. Rich but it's too little too late because simply and honestly the time to act arrived years ago, and Americans self-absorbed by careerism and noxious entertainment and consumptively overweight refused to heed the warnings offered by men like Webb and Ritter and because those events, whose consequences prophesize such damning repercussions, now beyond our control show, 'Lost Time Is Not Found Again'-- Be Prepared