Rossputin.com Rational Thinking About Our World

Comments made by Gates, the new Secretary of War, have continued to disappoint me. I was actually silly enough to think that he might bring a breath of sanity to a somewhat crazy administration.

The disturbing thing about the ongoing position of the current administration is that any discussion of policy is counterproductive and detrimental to the troops, especially if it conflicts with the desires of Bush and Cheney. Well, our country still remains a democracy. And the troops are US troops not Bush's personal troops. True, he leads them about on his fool's quest but he doesn't own them. They are property of the US government.

Any criticism of Bush's Iraq policies is deemed traitorous. So the complete underpinning of our system of government, our system of checks and balances, is thrown into question by this administration. Think about it, throughout Bush's administration the minority party was marginalized. Critics were dealt retribution. Frankly, Bush and company have the upper hand at this moment relative to Iraq policy but there is a perverse "silver lining" in all of this for the Democrats and the American people.

Without question, the American public does not support the continued escalation of troop levels in Iraq. Nevertheless, Bush continues to persist. Who, ultimately, will be most harmed by this policy? Two constituencies, I think. The first is the military. They will continue to patrol through the streets and countryside of Iraq taking ever more casulaties, this loyal servant of the American people who suffers in silence. They do their best under the most difficult of circumstances.

But the second constituency that will suffer is the Republican party. This unpopular and ill conceived war is alienating more and more people in the general electorate as time passes. Republican up for reelection in 2006 experienced a surprising bloodbath in the elections. Democrats leapt into majority status against all odds. All of the political pundits, at the time, felt that that result was a long shot at best but it happened nonetheless. Republican politicians are on a roller coaster ride now with the Commander in Chief and Cheney in the lead cart. They are a nervous bunch indeed for it is they who will feel the people's ire come November, 2008. Although Republican resolve is showing signs of fracture, they are tied to Bush's disasterous policies whether they like it or not. As in 2006, many Republicans up for reelection were figuratively shot for simply belonging to the same party as Bush. I expect this to happen again. This is an agonizingly slow process but the result will be that the Republican party will pay a dear price indeed for not having stopped the "decider."

So, let the accusations of traitorous behavior fly. Democrats will continue to do what little they can to change the course of events but, ultimately, it will be the inevitable results that will come home to roost with the Republican party. They will pay a political price for many years to come commencing in 2008.

The most sad and unbelievable thing about Iraq is the level of denial about the conflict itself. It is an interesting phenomenon, is it not? Bush and Cheney stick to their public position that Iraq is going just peachy. No mistakes have been made. Just stick with us until we can run out the clock, get out of office and then blame the next sap who becomes president for the ultimate withdrawal. How detached from reality can you get?

How about the Republican neocons who encouraged a dim witted president to do Iraq in the first place. They stumble over themselves to say that Bush fumbled the entire war. Too many mistakes. Nothing was done as they would have done it. Iraq wasn't a mistake, it was poor execution, simply poor execution.

Fellow Republicans still afraid to make the leap to oppose the president. Let's give this "last surge strategy" a chance. It might work they say, surpressing a nervousness within themselves.

Time will tell how Iraq will ultimately turn out. For many Republicans up for reelection, however, I think they sense that disaster is just over the horizon for them. I think they will pay a dear price indeed.