As usual, everyone's going nuclear over a Democratic defeat on the war. But before we go off half-cocked like so many 3rd world SS-1 Scud knockoffs, I should maybe share something I first rememebr thinking 3 years ago, but which I dared not speak at the time, mostly because, I confess, I didn't want to pour gasoline on the funeral pyres of Kerry-Edwards. What I dared not speak was this: I knew we would be in Iraq till Bush left office.
Bush, you see, was free after his re-election to pursue whatever agenda he really wanted. No longer having to worry about his public face, he brazenly tried to privatize Social Security. He replaced Ashcroft at Justics with his longtime buddy Gonzo. AS the war dragged on with nothing resembling victory in sight, his popularity began to erode. The erosion only accelerated after Katrina, a monument to Republican incompetence.
And it was around then that I began to see it: Bush really is crazy. I think I first realized it after he said Brownie did "a heckuva job." There was no way any sane person, seeing the aftermath of Katrina and the botched FEMA response, could call that clusterfuck a "heckuva job." Yes, Brown was fired, but that was just damage control; Bush had actually thought Brown did great, hence his congratualtions.
Then the Generals that disagreed with Bush suddenly found themselves out of a job or marginalized. That helped confirm my theory that Bush was truly insane. Nobody who looks objectively at a military situation would fire someone just because they suggested that the current plan wasn't working.
Then, after Gonzo's terrible testimony, which actually drove 10 Republicans to say it was well past time for his firing, Bush actually goes on national TV and says his confidence in Gonzo has increased...INCREASED!
This, I realized, was not the product of a sane mind. No sane person could see the FEMA screw-up and tell Brown he was doing great. No sane person could actually have their confidence in Gonzo increased by his performance. No sane person would fire Generals just for suggesting that maybe the current strategy had to be changed. Bush is a man possessed, and I've known it for quite a while.
That was why I knew we wouldn't be leaving Iraq till he left office. Iraq is Bush's long-held fantasy, and the crazy never relinquish their fantasies without a great deal of help. Help Bush will neither acept or be offered, since he refuses to even meet with people who don't fawn over him. You can't argue with the insane. They don't live in the real world. In Bush's fantasy world, all he has to do is keep holding out and eventually he'll "win." He couldn't even tell you what winning was, but he knows it's not leaving.
Some suggest that Bush and others are just cynically trying to rake in money for Halliburton and other crooked companies. That may be part of it. But I fear that the truth is much scarier. And the truth is that Bush truly believes his own Iraq talking points. He really believes that if we go Al Qaeda will somehow "win" something. He really believes that if he toughs it out long enough our enemies will just suddenly give up. He truly believes that in four years we can actually plant a democracy in a state that has never been democratically ruled since the dawn of human civilization.
And that's why I knew we wouldn't leave Iraq under Bush's watch. He's a man obsessed to the point of mental illness with being right, and arguing with the insane is like punching a brick wall.