Two years is never enough for a day's work.

Here's a delightful quote:

"The goal is not to trade something off for something else to make somebody happy, the goal is to succeed."

-Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld.

Wow.

He speaks in reference to the recent proposed cease-fire from eleven major sunni insurgent groups who are requesting, quite reasonably in my opinion, a complete U.S. Troop withdrawal from Iraq in two years. It's a beautiful way to call our bluff, because of course we won't agree to it (as in the Bush admin. propaganda picture we can't be seen to be acceding to the demands of "terrorists"), but how will Bush spin it? Here's a powerful force to continue slaughter against both coalition soldiers and Iraqi civilians, (whom we are supposedly there, in part, to protect and liberate, mind), saying that they will stop the killing if we leave, in what I can only describe as an astonishingly generous and realistic timetable! I mean, if they said "be gone in four months" then the proposition would never stand a chance...but two years? How do Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Rove spin that one? Because you KNOW they'll say "no way!". So, what is this "goal", Mr. Rumsfeld? Succeed at what, exactly?

Freedom for the Iraqi people, security against terrorism at home and abroad? How does one 'succeed' at that by being inflexible, murderous and bloody-minded? Wars are not won by slaughtering every last combatant, because that kind of murder only spawns more combatants in an eternal cycle of bloodshed and incalculable human suffering. Wars are won, or at least brought to an end, by mutual consent, on terms that are of course favorable to the victor.

The Bush administration continually wants to paint this 'struggle against terrorism' as a genuine war, as evidenced by their constant whining regarding the "irresponsibility" of the press in risking the safety of the American people during "wartime" by continually printing the truth. As evidenced by Bush, Cheney and Gonzales continually extending the powers of the Executive branch, into areas far beyond its intended limit, to take more and more control over the actions of the other two branches, over the voting systems, the money and the movements of American business, and eventually the very lives of the American people themselves. All this is done under the all-encompassing umbrella of "we are at war", and the President, the Commander-In-Chief, after all, must guide us to safety...and how can he be expected to do so while straining under the yoke of all these annoying "laws" and "civil rights protections"? This is war, after all!

So, if it is a war, Mr. Bush, Mr. Cheney, Mr. Rumsfeld and Mr. Rove...then why do you not understand how in the hell to run one, or to end one? What is your real interest, and why does it seem so obvious that you only want to continue it? We are not at war, we are pressing our influence for financial gain, period. If we were at war, we’d really be in trouble. These men are as suited to managing a war as a professor of physics is to hitting a curveball. They know the theory (they read it in a book somewhere) but are far too arrogant to admit that they have no business attempting the implementation of it: the very real and difficult business of taking the theory and turning it into successful action. And so we all go down with them, while their arrogance and humiliation is magnified, which leads to more feeble attempts and subsequent failures, and they drift further and further from ever admitting defeat until either they are removed from responsibility by other forces or, quite literally, the entire world is consumed by their irresponsible posturing, pride and reckless greed.

How can they, even with lies, spin doctoring and empty sermonizing, justify a decision to condemn Iraq to yet more years of misery, slaughter, privation, shattered economy and an empty future, and call it anything but criminal? But, they've done some pretty awful things and gotten away with them all, so far, so I suppose we shouldn't doubt their awesome power to continue such criminal behavior, nor the awesome stupidity (willful, for the most part) of the American people to not only put up with it, but to vocally support it, clank bottles of Bud Light in toast to it.

I am reminded of a "barbarian" who was once quoted, in reference to the conquering Roman armies laying waste to thousands of square miles of wilderness, cultivated land, and societies therein, as saying:

"They have made a desert and called it peace."

-Jeremy