Countering Clarke and O'Neill: The PNAC trial balloon is floated

Bush is NOW beginning to talk about the occupation of Iraq (aka War on Terror) as a long term struggle, and seems to be settling people up for a long regional war, in a soft way.

He had to do *something* to counter what he feared as very damaging effects of the recent books from insiders of his administration, who have provided information that shows us that he was not particularly interested in Al Qaeda, but Iraq. The Clarke and Suskind/O'Neill revelations of his fixation from Day 1 of his presidency on invading Iraq is being spun as "If I was, it was because I saw it as a critical element on my comprehensive strategy to counter terrorism, as opposed to swatting flies."

At least it is good that this "comprehensive strategy" (aka the PNAC program aka Operation Resolute Quagmire) is finally getting out in the open, where hopefully it will be examined by the American people who will or may vote in the Fall. They have to decide if war, without any goal more specific than "against terrorism", for an indefinite period of time well into the future, which will dominate our national life, is what they want. They have to decide how they will measure the success and progress of such a long term military commitment.

These are the first little hints to the general public of what he is intending to do, and he was pretty much forced into it, in order to explain the stuff that Clarke and O'Neill came out with. Many of us know here know that this program was well underway for some time now, and that his right wing supporters are speaking very openly about how they *want* a world war. From the very beginning, Bush surrounded himself with people who espoused this view.

The whole "I was forced to do it by Sept 11" is TOTAL bullshit, as the plan for Iraq was being worked out all along. But he seems to think he will save his presidency by saying that he did in fact have A Plan -- that is, the PNAC program.

I say -- let him take his plan to commit our nation to a long bloody war in front of the Congress, and make his case to get them behind him and DECLARE war according to our system of law. Otherwise, he cannot claim that he is doing so with the approval of the American people. And to wage a war without the consent of the American people WILL create another Viet Nam. So if he has such a brilliant plan, and is such a brilliant and persuasive leader, let him take it to the Congress, and unite the country behind him. Or fuck off.

is that the congress all those pontif have abdiquate their power and do nothing but to forcefully suppport and defend whatever the $ does

when he was talking about how we had to succeed in Iraq for OTHER VICTORIES.

In his rambling, PNAC agenda was peeking out enough that it can't be denied anymore.

He HAD to admit that he was carrying out A Comprehensive Strategy To Completely Eradicate Terrorism (aka PNAC program) or admit that he was fixated on taking out Saddam from Day 1 for no good reason, or admit that the failure to find WMD in Iraq as promised has in any way compromised his initiative to imvade and occupy it.

Good. I'm glad its out in the open.

They try to "soften him" with all those commercials showing him with Laura and Barney --when the American NEEDS to know that the kind of people he is hanging out with are Wolfowitz, Perle, Cheney, Strauss, etc. They also need to understand the kind of guy that he chose to be Ambassador after Viceroy Bremer vacates.

People need to understand that when Bush talks about a "generational commitment" he's talking about a very long, very bloody war. People need to understand what it means that it is a war waged against a rather ambiguous and shape-shifting enemy -- "terror" and figure out how they will decide in the many years to come how they will measure its progress.

They've all HAD to back off the "cakewalk" "had-to-do-it-because-of-Sept-11" BS -- now they are making it seem, or revealing that a major military operation in the Middle East (i.e. regional war) was their "comprehensive strategy."

Watch how they use the word "democracy." It's a code word for "US and Israel." I support Israel, but because I do I wholly reject the disaster that the PNAC program will inflict on the entire region. It's just going to make everything worse.

All the supposed tight analogies between WWII and Iraq, while rejecting any comparison to Iraq and Viet Nam.

n/t