Pearls And Swine

Richard Perle has resigned from his position as head of a panel advising the Pentagon on national security matters. Perle, one of the largest chickenhawks in the barnyard, was a principal author of the doctrine that put American in Iraq. He was also working for the criminal enterprise popularly known as Global Crossing, advising it how to profitably sell itself to Chinese or Singaporean investors. A government panel will ultimately have to approve the sale, and the current Secretary of Offense, the ever-pithy Donald Rumsfeld, sits upon that panel.

In Right wing circles of logic, this situation is known as "an appearance of impropriety," as opposed to actual impropriety, an occurrence never seen in such classes. The remedy is simple, easy, and ridiculously effective: Mr. Perle resigns from leading the panel, but remains a member of it, where he can retain control; declares that no illegal or unethical behavior took place; Mr. Rumsfeld seconds the motion, and all is well. This is known as "pre-emption," a doctrine recently established in conservative classes in the wake of Enron and, oh yes, Global Crossing. Being a new doctrine, few have learned to adopt it in timely manner, allowing scandals to fester in the press and public eye, giving the notion that businessmen and government officials, oftentimes one and the very same, do not behave in ethical or legal ways at all times. Shocking notions, we understand, but what do you expect from "the little people?"

To Mr. Perle's credit, he saw the coming difficulties and applied the proper cosmetic therapies. He's so clever that he has solemnly vowed to donate all monies he has made from his association with Global Crossing and its business before the US government to the families of the servicemen slaughtered in the war of his own conception. Were I of those families, I'd hold Mr. Perle down on the ground and force him to eat every last dirty dollar and beg my forgiveness.

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In 1991 there were half a million US fighting men and women in the Persian Gulf to expel Iraqi military forces from Kuwait, then a Kingdom, now a ...kingdom, yeah.

In 2003 there were just over 200,000 US troops to invade and conquer all of Iraq, overthrow its dictator, and install a stable democracy for the future.

Hmmmm.

In the run up to war many American officials and former officials went on TV to talk about the coming invasion "if it happens." Voices ringing with confidence they told us our troops would prevail, that Iraqi troops would surrender in droves or put up no more than a token fight, and the people across Iraq would rejoice at our coming. These words came from high American military officials (they of all people ought to know better than to shoot off their mouths like that), former officials friendly to the Shrubites, and the Shrubites themselves, all the way up to and including none other than the person of the Vice Resident himself. Speaking on Meet The Press, which ought to be renamed Licking Administration Ass, Father Cheney gave class and intoned The Word, and received wisdom became that this would go quickly, that the people of Iraq wanted us to invade and save them from Hussein, that, in the final analysis, this war would not be about weapons of mass destruction (there aren't any of consequence), or UN resolutions (the US is highly selective about which ones to enforce), or oil (oh no, not oil, never. If not, then why is Cheney's old company, Halliburton, now reaping a billion dollar contract in Iraq before the war has even ended?); but about the liberation of the Iraqi people.

And it would be easy. Over and over Cheney directly implied that it would be easy, as did many others in power, those who would actually be in position to send young Americans to die. They were lying, all of them, and they knew it.

Political support for the war would not hold forever without any actual fighting.

The 2004 campaign season is not far off, and the Shrubites don't want to be running for re-election with hostilities still in progress.

This time the Iraqi military, much depleted after the Iran-Iraq war, the Gulf war, and twelve years of sanctions, would be on its home territory, fighting for its life, its homes and families, its pride. This is the "X" factor, so to speak, that must be accounted for, and which Americans may not well understand since our country has not seen foreign forces on the ground in nearly 200 years. So our leaders sold the war as being an easy thing, a cakewalk, a fucking video game, abandoning recent American military doctrine of overwhelming force, which, if you are getting into fighting and killing in the first place, makes a certain sense.

So now over 100,000 new troops are on their way to the area in what has been euphemistically tagged a "reallocation," carefully avoiding the term "reinforcements," as if there were something wrong with that idea. Perhaps the Shrubites ought to have handled the diplomacy with better care, getting more countries with actual forces to contribute on board, instead of this laughable "coalition," where countries most cannot locate on a map lend their name in return for "considerations." Perhaps Turkey could have been dealt with differently, and all of those troop that were supposed to be available from the start would be in country now and not in airplanes on their way over from the states.

Best of all would be to end this foolishness and support the troops by bringing them home where they belong.

By the way, the popular canard today is if you are anti-war you must be pro-Saddam.

By those lights, if you are pro-war, you are anti-peace...