I have not yet had the time to read the full Iraq Study Group Report — which is available later today. But as we hear about the salient points from the Executive Summary — and the ongoing press appearances throughout the day — we as Americans are learning several things:
1) The situation in Iraq is "deteriorating." No one disagrees with this anymore. No more "Oh, you are ignoring all the good things that are happening in Iraq!" We aren't hearing that claptrap from apologists for this war or for this administration any longer.
2) Our political establishment — both Republican and Democrat — are equally complicit in getting our country into this mess. With 2008 looming, the Hillary Clintons and other Democrats who voted for this war are desperately trying to distance themselves from their 2002 enthusiasm for this pre-emptive invasion against a country which did not attack us.
3) The Baker-Hamilton - ISG - report is a vehicle for all of the establishment to climb aboard, with one key exception: G.W. Bush himself. Despite his boilerplate statements this praising the ten-member commission, the president is in total denial about what he has wrought.
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4) The President's father, when he broke down on Monday at a ceremony for his son, Jeb, the outgoing governor of Florida, was actually releasing years of pent-up emotion about his oldest son's massive failure in Iraq.
Bush 41 is no fool. He knows that his obstinate son has severely damaged America and American interests worldwide for years to come. (Not to mention the Bush brand is greatly devalued, too.)
All this emotion came tumbling out. Yes, he loves his son, but he also knows what an embarrassment W has become. It repeats a life-long pattern: Given everything by Mom and Dad, the oldest son repeatedly screws up, but never pays a price for these mistakes. He fails up the ladder, all the way to the Oval Office.
There he sets out to prove he is at least as competent on foreign affairs — if not better — than his dad, a noted foreign policy expert.
5) G.W. Bush's conduct of foreign policy is a diametric opposite of his father: unilateral, arrogant, bullying, cocky, ignorant, and wrong-headed.
And the result is this "grave and deteriorating" Iraq situation.
6) The incoming defense secretary, Gates, admitted yesterday, "We are losing" in Iraq.
7) The Baker ISG report wants to give amnesty to the insurgent killers in Iraq. Hmmm . . . It wants to address all Middle Eastern conflicts, including the Israel-Palestinian problem. Hmmmmm . . . It also says that there are so "silver bullets" on Iraq. It calls for more "training" of Iraqi troops. Puhleeeze!!! You can't train these so-called soldiers because they are two-faced, duplicitous people who take our money by day and don militia uniforms at night and rape, mutilate, torture, and murder by night.
This report has many good ideas — but only one set of eyes and ears matter; G.W. Bush. And he isn't buying it! He will persist all the way until Jan. 20, 2009, with virtually no changes in his Iraq plan, unless, of course, things so deteriorate on the ground in Iraq that even the president can no longer deny the disaster he, and the entire establishment, has burdened America with.