Slate's Kaplan parses Bush's "strategy" speech as a student parses Milton

[BurtWorm]

Not to say Bush's speech was of that high caliber, or Kaplan's parsing that low. But reading his piece, it really struck me: Bush's speech was nonsense. Kaplan--and every other pundit in the US--is desperately trying to find a single shred of meaning to hang onto.

This is further evidence that no one is in charge! They can only fake it as they go along! :scared:



http://www.slate.com/id/2131262/


First, though the document is called a "strategy for victory," Bush doesn't clearly define either term. And even where he defines the terms nebulously or inconsistently, he doesn't tie them to the more pressing questions now consuming public discussion of the war: What do we do now? When can we start to pull out—under what circumstances, with what sorts of troops remaining, to what end, for how long?

In the speech, Bush says (as he has said many times before), "We will stay as long as necessary to complete the mission." But what is the mission? At one point he says, "When our mission of training the Iraqi security forces is complete, our troops will return home to a proud nation." However, a bit later, he says the mission will be complete "when the terrorists and Saddamists can no longer threaten Iraq's democracy," and he adds, "I will settle for nothing less than complete victory."

So, which is it: Our job is done when the Iraqis can fight the bad guys on their own—or when the bad guys are defeated? Those are two very different standards, involving very different benchmarks of progress.

As was widely reported ahead of time, Bush focused much of his speech on, as he put it, "the real progress" made this year in training Iraqi soldiers and police. Many observers—including this one—inferred from this that the speech would mark a prelude to (if not an announcement of) a substantial American troop withdrawal. After all, the president has said many times, "As the Iraqis stand up, we will stand down." Here they are, suddenly standing up; therefore …

[BurtWorm]

1. Better analogy: Parsing Bush is like Kremlinology

Like reading the podium at the annual May Day parade to try to discern whose stars were rising or falling.

[cliss]

2. They don't know what the hell to do!

They want to keep their oil so badly, it's driving them crazy.

But they're getting intense pressure from other politicians & the public which is saying "enough". Get us out of this mess.

However, Cheney is like the proverbial High-stakes gambler who is now trying to "recoup his losses". He's just like the desperate man down at the dog races. He's got his paycheck. This is the Big One. His mortgage payment is on the line. If he can just outwit Lady Luck JUST THIS ONCE he'll be Okay. Everything will be fine.

But he needs this race or it's curtains. He sweats, goes to the window, and....

Cheney lays in bed at night, and he cries. He clutches a map of Iraq with all its gleaming Black Gold treasure under the sand.

He sees it moving out of his grasp, and there's nothing he can do....

He was willing to kill for the precious stuff. Even torture.