The first and most critical miscalculation of W and Condi

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

Was when they did not call for an IMMEDIATE ceasefire from the first moments of this Lebanese situation.

Imagine that there is a fight in a schoolyard between Student A and Student B. Imagine that the principles and the teachers and the counselors decide that they won't break up the fight because they need to address the "deeper" causes of why the students are fighting. So, they retire to a conference room and discuss how Student A went off their Ritalin and Student B has an abusive father and that is why they are "acting out". While the teachers are wanking off in the conference room about underlying causes, the 2 students are bashing each other to bits and their various friends have now all become embroiled into a much larger brawl that threatens to spill out of the schoolyard and into the town.

Would you accept the explanations of the principle and teachers in the above scenario that it was more important to address root causes then stopping the immediate conflict? Of course not. Why would we accept this palpably idiotic reaction from the Bush administration now?

Why would anyone have any confidence whatsoever in people who can not sort out priorities when dealing with situations that have the potential to turn into major worldwide conflagrations? The Bush administration are idiots pure and simple. Just when you think it is not possible for them to lower worldwide opinion of the US any lower, they still manage to find a way to do it.

They now have NO credibility because they made no sincere attempt to stop the fighting in the first place. The moment they decided that a certain number of dead Lebanese were acceptable to them, they lost their ability to broker any type of peacemaking deal.

[sweetheart]

1. ..is that the washington consensus was permanent

Not understanding finance, it is the W/condi cabal's most "critical
miscalculation"

[pooja]

2. You ask why? Why wouldn't they? What about this administration,

or should I say joke, says that they would involve themselves with maturity. Look at Bush's appointment to the UN... that says it all right there. They want the countries over there involved in all out war... When the dust settles, halliburton is there to sweep up the dust.

[smacky44]

3. Why shouldn't Bush be impeached for CONDONING international

war crimes at least and committing them at best?

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

4. W has no understanding about the uses of diplomacy

After the first Hezbollah incursion they could have been the point man for going into the UN and insisting that the UN resolution about disarming Hezbollah in Lebanon be enforced. They could have helped save a lot of lives on both sides and turned world attention to the issue of Hezbollah in Lebanon. Of course, they did not do this because they do not believe in diplomacy, they do not believe in the UN and we are all less safe because of it.

[alcibiades_mystery]

5. Great analogy...well done!

That the "search" for underlying causes is manifest bullshit is obvious enough. One only has to read Bobo's column in today's Times to see how deeply disturbed and openly absurd the policy is.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

6. Thanks for liking the analogy! Who is Bobo? nt.

[alcibiades_mystery]

8. David Brooks

[mzteris]

7. Like when my boys start

fighting - I say - STOP! I don't care WHO started it, I'm stopping it. NOW.

Then we sort out the details of who did what and WHY!!!!!

Sometimes they have to sit on the stairs for a while until they calm down enough to speak rationally. Sometimes they have to sit there quite a while. :) But sit they do until they're calm and civil (to me and each other) and can figure out what it was THEY did to start/escalate the issue and how they could've handled it better, and what they should "do different" the next time.

Of course there's always a next time. :sigh:

[dbt]

9. Please! There have never been ANY miscalculations from bu$hco.

No group of people (and I use the term loosely) can be as incompetent for THIS LONG without becoming candidates for Natural Selection. Each and every move that the Regime has made has been with a Reptilian Eye toward making a few people RICH(er).

If you follow the money, it all makes perfect sense!

:evilgrin:
dbt

Remember New Orleans

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

10. I have to say that I'm surprised they hoodwinked Blair to support

their stupid initial "root cause" position - because now he looks as big a blathering fool as W. Worse for him as he is considered to be capable of rational thought.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

11. A friend said to me - "don't they know that you're always supposed

to at least PRETEND you care about death and destruction?" Amazing that they didn't know something so basic.

Although, maybe it's just part of that greater stripping away of our basic humanitarian and decent tendencies - like being willing to publicly be FOR torture. I would never have believed five years ago that the American people would have tolerated and even embraced the debasement of their collective national character that has occurred.