Why Bush Has No Plans Of Making Any Meaningful Changes

George W. Bush announced yesterday that he will not make any formal statements on changes made in the U.S. strategy in the Iraq war until early in the new year. But, already we have some clues into what the overall plan should look like, if current statements made both by Bush and the Democratic party hold true. In fact, if one would simply record every statement made in Washington since the Iraq study group report was released, then there should be very little guess work needed in predicting what grand message Bush will have sometime in January. So lets play the political version of the game of "Clue."

What we do know is that Bush and the rank and file of the Democratic party do not support an immediate withdraw of US troops and this includes the reduction of troop levels as suggested in the study groups report. It seems difficult to comprehend any meaning full plan to "change the coarse," while we maintain the same policy of irritating the locals by keeping US troops in hostile territory. We've seen already that this leads to the abuse of local men women and children by troops and at the same time, brings in new recruits for the militias. Further more, the decision of keeping our solider in Iraq flys in the face of 90% of the country which wants to see the western world leave as of yesterday. This crass behavior by Washington and Downing Street seems to turn a blind eye on to what the locals want. If we were to listen to what some residents of Iraq have been saying, we would here them saying, rightfully so, that as long as outsiders occupy Iraq, there will never be peace in the area, that only the Iraq people can bring that.

Along the same lines, is the Iraq study groups recommendation to change the role of  U.S. forces from a combat position  to that of trainers who work with the Iraqi police. Both parties have already added this plan to the scrap heap. There is not much to say about this other than to point out that neither party wants to seem soft of the scam called, the "war on terror."

Adding more troops to Iraq seems to be the most embraced plan by both parties. The Republicans suggest about 30,000 while the Democrats have put their bid at 20,000. So, after Christmas, you parents out there can expect nonstop calls from the military recruiting board trying to get their hands on your son or daughter. Of coarse this plan will only move forward if the military reaches its target number. According to some insiders, they have been as of late. It makes one wonder what US voters were voting for in November since the Democrats are not in office and already they have gone back on their word of bringing the troops home. But thats a different discussion for a different time.

George W. Bush has already stated that there will be no change in the overall policy in Iraq which means, don't expect any soldiers to come home for the Holidays. Also telling about this lack of any clear military chance by this administration is how tight lipped Snow, Rice and Cheney have been since the report was released. And Bush still refuses to sit and talk with Iran or Syria in dealing with Iraq issue.The Holocaust denial seminar in Tehran over the weekend surely will not help the matter. This maybe the only real area of change however. Florida representitive, Paul Nelson went to Syria yesterday to talk with president Emile Lahoud about getting involved in the stabilization of the area. As much as Bush will attempt to resist such actions, in the end he will realize that most of his other options have run out and his administration has painted themselves into a corner.   

So what are we to make of all this? Well to put it simply, U.S. troops are not going to becoming home anytime soon despite promises from the Democratic party. Our troop's poisiton will remain that of combat and Bush will finally be forced to sit down Syria while  Iran will continue to be a specter of tention for the U.S. So there you have it. No real surprise will come out of January and you can save yourself from much disappointment and rage.

  Until next time.

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