MEMORIAL DAY

The current state of the White House and the administration reflects a dysfunctional atmosphere replete with hesitant and clearly uncertain policy formulations being debated and leaked in various manners that border on unraveling-- The increasing mayhem in Iraq may no longer be denied and once cautiously confident statements extolling progress via The Surge are no longer bandied about DC except perhaps in the oddest of out-of-touch think-tanks and campaigns run by faux leaders fancying themselves presidential candidates-- The bold and critical objectives aimed at securing both Baghdad itself and Anbar Province are unfortunately being met by an indisputable lack of success-- Reconciliation between sectarian factions, as prescribed by in-effectual, blustery US statesmen and petulant pundits, appears to be fait non-accompli--

Into this violent wasteland strewn with not just a few discarded milestones hollowed of their promised 'cakewalk' to easy victory emerges the under-estimated Moqtada Sadr proposing after Friday prayers to forge a united Iraq pledging co-operation with Sunnis opposing the US occupation-- What may be empty prattle by the grudgingly skillful populist/nationalist/sermonist effectively sticks a political thumb into the administration's less than keen eye-- Clearly unable to predict Sadr's movements and much less his intentions which the White House attributes to radical instability, the Bush men,sooner or later, are going to have to realize the adept Sadr has won way more Hearts & Minds as a fiery crazy-fox than the ever behind-schedule General Petraeus has purchasing photo-op pastries at some secular bakery--



Petraeus' strategy would have echo-ed his intelligent skill and anti-insurgent savvy had the application of which occurred before Mr. Bremer's artless tenure as the combat-booted, cool-breeze, Coalition-Viceroy was more than allowed to screw-the-pooch from the Green Zone-- While Rumsfeld's narrow field of vision was completely occupied by micro-management and the stubborn two-year refusal to admit an insurgency even existed, 3 million Iraqi souls incarnated as refugees, two million of which fled the country-- Three million pilgrims whose Hearts and Minds poor frustrated Petraeus had fat chance of ever pimping over to the Project for a New American Century-- Always a day late and a dollar shy but still chucking good money after bad to the tune of $10 billion per month--



Mr. Bush, as reported on Time.com earlier in the week, was suddenly considering a dramatic 50% troop cut sometime in early '08, but forceful denial from the White House spin-crew nipped that unwelcome tidbit in the bud only to later re-re-adjust their message to refer to a possible operational substitution from combat personnel to troop-trainers for the woeful Iraqi Army which, also earlier in the week, confessed to actually planning, in conjunction with Iraqi political leaders, for worst case scenarios involving sudden immediate withdrawal of American forces from Iraq proper-- Is it safe to say mis-communication rules the day both in and out of the White House??-- Is the Iraqi Army privy to any of the plans??-- Rumors run amok mirroring the metastisizing vacuum--



Pushing PM Maliki for "tangible results quickly" on the Oil Bill may be the last card to play in Iraq and conceivably could end up as the last failed milestone but Bush still has a card or two up his sleeve-- Reports of a huge rift between good-cop Bush and bad-cop Cheney playing out over Iran contributed to the fevered angst enveloping the region as US Naval Forces exercised formidable battle formations in an awesome array off the coast of Iran, un-nerving most neighbors, particularly Afghanastan-- Hot conflict could be only a matter of days away should Cheney's National Security crew dominate or subvert the Pentagon/Intelligence crew advocating for Sec State Rice's team-- Bush the weakened Decider, fresh from bludgeoning the even weaker demie congress mid-week, sits inside the Crucible between these testy opponents--

Cheney, of course, has a card up his sleeve, the ever-present purchasing power of AIPAC and the VP's ever amiable proclivity to collude in criminal adventures with Ehud Olmert and the Israeli ADF-- Last week was Cheney's turn, on station in the Gulf, to strut and fret his hour upon the air-craft carrier certainly talking tough about not only the last but also the only mission remotely available for his wanting sense of accomplishment-- Add, also, to this roiled mix the Three-Star War Czar who is mandated to co-ordinate the disparate elements of this vivid jumbo-cluster coming to a live theater near you this Memorial Day--

Powered by ScribeFire.