Iraq Rolls On

                         Iraq In Focus

John Mccain's recent remarks on "Meet The Press," about the war in Iraq shows an all too clear fact about the party. That is to say, you have a universal accepted state of denial permeating throughout the GOP. Mr. McCain is still putting forth the notion that the United States still has a chance of winning the war in Iraq. The reverberations of 1968 and G. Gordon Liddy's stance on Vietnam are ringing all over again. Like Liddy to Nixon, McCain and the rest of the party continue to play the role of enablers to Bush concerning what has to the greatest crises in the Middle East since the Iran/Iraq war. And as we've seen with last election, George W. is paying the price for having so many yes men, and women, around him.

George W. Bush is to meet with the Iraq Study Group today for what we must assume is an attempt to find some way of getting out of Iraq in a fashion that allows this adminstration to can claim victory. But, that is going to be much easier said than done. According to one pentagon insider, there is no "magical bullet," that can remedy this situation. Which is further bad news for Bush since he is still barely hanging on to any respect he might have had since 9/11. But, times have truly changed.  Repulicans are now bellowing that had Rumsfeld been gone sooner, the Republicans would have kept control of congress, that they would eventually find a solution to the war. This is the same message that they have depended on for the last three years and we now see exactly where it has gotten us. He is a man without a party. Even  Shakespeare couldn't come up with a better fitting tragedy to a more twisted character. "This is the winter of our discontent..." 

Now the future of our role not only in Iraq but, also in the future of world affairs maybe on the shoulders of Democrats. They must now decide if bipartisanship is more important than than repairing the U.S.s image in the World and there message has been mixed. On one hand, the Dems are calling for the withdraw of U.S. troops in the next four to six months. However, we must see how aggressive they are going to pursue that agenda. Bush has already said that he will not pull troops out until we, "complete the mission," whatever it is at this point. so look for this to become a possible clash of the : titans for the next two years.

On the other hand, the Democrats have already said any possible impeachment of Bush is off the table. Why, one may ask. Simple, the process is long and financially expensive. But more importantly, it is also an ugly process that would play into the hands of the GOP. Democrats are looking forward to 2008 and don't want to look as if they are attempting to get revenge for the bad blood of the last 6 years. There are many questions that should be raised in this situation though. First off, are we to have no discussion over the thresh hold of tolerance our government should have towards blatant crimes towards it's own citizens and the world at large? More importantly, is how many times can our constitution be raped and torn to shreds before the legal means of charging high level criminals must take place? These are but two questions now taken off the table.

One of the recommendations that the Iraq panel has already made is that Iran and Syria must be involved in process of seeking peace in the country. This leaves Bush in an ironic position since the two countries have been labeled as parts of the axis of evil by Bush and his cronies. It is highly unlikely he will take any advice concerning talks with Syria or Iran, as history shows.  Also, as reported by CNN, Bush is calling for the international isolation of Iran, not exactly a diplomatic effort when it comes to talks.

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