PETULANT BENCHMARKS

Every benchmark achieved so far in Iraq whether it be toppling of Saddam Hussein and his statue and then for all the world to see allowing the new Iraqi Government's hooded henchmen to lynch him or whether it be the impositioning of a hurriedly constructed constitution or the purple-fingered elections adamantly demanded by Bush or the killing of the renegade Al Qaeda be-header al-Zarquawi or the destruction of Falluja or the rescue of Jessica Lynch or whatever other positive note momentarily struck for optimum public relations value, they have all failed to stem the sectarian violence, have failed win the hearts of Iraqis, have failed to secure the country, have failed to stop the increase of attacks against our troops, have failed to return Iraq to pre-war levels of electrical and oil production and have failed to stanch the hemorrhaging moral trust and confidence once accorded the US regionwide and worldwide-- Surging into Baghdad though will somehow achieve the success of repeatedly undefined victory even as it continues to slip through Bush's fingers???--

Even those who championed the Surge for postural and political reasons don't believe it can succeed especially after recently learning that the operations will be conducted under two separate sets of command-- A strategic blunder that will jumbo cluster every tactical decision, slow tactical agility to a snail's pace as well as fubar-ing its decrepit aftermath-- The goalposts have been shifted too many times in vain attempts to posit after the fact any success as DC's original goal-- The lackluster results so haunt the Neocons that outright desperation and fear of the pointed finger of accusatory blame initiates new plans daily more devoid of reality than the last-- America's political landscape will continue to be haunted by it for years to come if not decades-- This failure will not because it cannot be swept under the rug-- The consequences are beyond enormous --The rug itself may be repo-ed by the creditors who financed this doomed debacle-- Richard Nixon could deflect attention from the failure in Vietnam by opening a brave new diplomatic front with the dreaded Red Chinese but no such option avails itself to the diplomatic corps in DC today--

The deflection open to Bush, while his senatorial opposition dallies and dithers its political capital away in a dis-spiritedly obscene game of poorly played charades, is ever more war, this time in the form of aerial bombardment of Iran-- Bush is not sending a third carrier group to the region for a show of force-- A more robust redux of Shock and Awe in joint force aerial attacks featuring the freshly down-vaunted Israeli Air Force in the lead-- An understatement to say the least neither country or its leader being burnished by confidence from large sectors of their populations-- Too many reporters now publicizing leaked information from military and intelligence sources depicting ongoing operative war plans being put into place like a massive jig-saw puzzle only the more recent intel suggests the latest plan of attack may be of magnitude higher in caliber and larger in scale than earlier reports projected--

The frustration load the Iraq failure continues to burden the Bush psyche with demands a higher payload of retribution and destruction for these radical Mullahs and their hot-head prime minister who have added insult to injury by so audaciously sticking their middle fingers smack into the face of a politically-weakened strategically-challenged Bush and simply defying him time and again-- No American president has ever been so openly dissed worldwide as this struggling flailing man--Every avenue open to Bush leads to metaphorical and/or moral suicide-- He can't quit and he can't win-- Fate has him by the gonkers-- There are no miracles here--

To capitulate now and ask for dialogue with Iran is to lose face big-time in a much too craven retreat from the stupid tough talk that backed him into fate's corner in the first place-- To bomb Iran's suspect nuclear sites as well as all military sites and major industrial zones to debilitate Iranian regional influence and potential economic power far enough into the future to satisfy Israeli paranoia and save Prime Minister Ehud (14%) Olmert's questionable political future, severely and immediately jeopardizes the oil-addicted heavily over-indebted American economy and tangential business interests of Western Civ worldwide and unquestionably and profoundly endangers the overstretched under-armored under-appreciated American troops now operating in Iraq under Operation Provide More Targets-- Should the numerically superior Shia Militias with their jihad fortified morale join the insurgent violence in a big way by overtly increasing the tempo and caliber of attacks against American troops Bush could conceivably be the only President in our short history to preside over not only such a grave and excruciatingly demoralizing defeat but perhaps the complete destruction of that army-- Dire ain't a strong enough word here-- America, you should be worried!!!!--

Each new (actually recycled) think-tank theorem or strategy exits the starting gates tabula rasa blindly optimistic and promising success where the others have crashed and burned or simply failed to gain any relevant posi-traction-- The insurgency and the ongoing sectarian carnage control the terrain and the time upon which they battle-- The militias are capable of going to ground, disappearing from the arena, blending into the general population for rest, recuperation and re-arming and then emerging again to fight when conditions favor them-- New theorem and strict timelines can't alter this-- So far unable to wrest this tempo away from the insurgents the ensuing frustration wells-up correlative to the mounting casualties and financial costs and the diminishing support on the home-front and abroad--

Every idiot candidate who once supported this doomed misadventure now has an exit plan being bandied about the blathersphere-- Every imbecilic editorial board who cheer-led the opening assault of Shock and Awe and hailed the prospects of a five-day war as if it were a sporting event or a fox-hunt now has an exit plan and a blame-thrower aimed at someone else-- Every prize-winning pro-war bandwagon pundit who has jumped the Bush career-ship now has an exit strategery and has quietly removed the flag pin from his lapel-- Gone the glorius rapture of jingoism that now finds every mahogany-foxholed Neocon with imperceptibly accurate ground level intel still in the final throes of a grandiose ideological prescription for Victory-- Success so far still incapable of being defined in terms even extraordinary people can understand--

All of these plans from the wild-eyed optimistic to the heavily saturnian realistic to the bamboozled, the confused and frightened to those well intentioned and of good but flawed faith have thrown down the gauntlet of still more petulant benchmarks-- The way out of facing their own complicity for this tragic mega-blunder is quite easy.... simply blame the Iraqis!!!-- Their government isn't cutting the mustard-- It can't even buy a quorum with stacks of doubled-down shrink-wrapped dollars-- Give Malicki a binding deadline he can't possibly meet and if he fails to do what our Government has been manifestly incapable of achieving, give him the noose of a coup or threaten him with the loss of his American Cash Daddy-- Volunteers countrywide to succeed him in office number somewhere between the robustly slim and none-- Demand that he attack his own family, his own tribe and then his own militia in a vain act of suicidal sacrifice because the real responsibility for the (fait accompli) outcome of this ugly tragedy engendered by the blind hubris of exceptionalism and cool, won't exactly gleam from the pages of careerist resumes or polish Arlington's gardens of stone--

The narcissistic odor of this ultimatum frenzy alone will obviously guarantee painlessly successful action and rescue our leaders from there own camouflaged pap-- This from those who unabashedly witnessed the pathetic display of ineffectuality in the non-binding resolution flame-out on the Senate floor midweek last-- The heavyweight statesmen inside the Senate chamber sure know how to get things done-- Maybe John Warner who actually voted against his own resolution and Harry 'chicken' Reed should offer to train Malicki (the only one of the three actually facing real live bullets) in the delicate art of real fakery--

Perhaps we should give the US Congress a list of petulant spoiled impractical demands ala Shirley in a Templesque tantrum including an exit date for American troops, fully binding resolutions of real statesmen, stop the campaign fundraising while our country attempts to survive the imminent emergency, and see how focused these lazy slackers toe the line on such an obviously sure-fire road to victory-- Warn them should they fail the deadline of their mission a visit to Malicki's henchmen could be in the offing-- The weight of History is on the table-- Rough Music on the way--