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Politics : Impeach George W. Bush -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: sea_biscuit who wrote (74903)	11/28/2006 12:56:31 PM
From: Karen Lawrence	Respond to of 93284

...it would be an error to assume that this administration has some contact with reality and can be educated - by the electorate or by alienated neo-con intellectuals. There are no options in Iraq because the US has traumatized the entire nation and created immense problems for which it has no solutions. No one can predict what it will do in Iraq because the administration wishes to preserve the illusion of success and is genuinely confused about how to proceed. It has produced only chaos. Iraq is very likely to remain a tragedy, one racked by violence, for years to come. The Bush administration has created a massive disaster involving the lives of many millions of people. A great deal depends on the president, whose policy has utterly failed in Iraq and is failing in Lebanon, and one of his options is escalation, meaning war with Iran. Israel might attack Iran to drag the US in, but by itself it can only be a catalyst. It knows that, at least at certain levels, and Olmert and Bush approach these issues in a remarkably similar fashion. Either way, Bush has not ruled out war with Iran despite warnings from many military men that such a conflict would have vast repercussions, it would probably last years, and the US would likely lose the war, even if it used nuclear weapons. A number of the neo-con theoreticians have repented the Iraq adventure, and even criticized some the basic premises that motivated it, but it would be an error to assume that this administration has some contact with reality and can be educated - by the electorate or by alienated neo-con intellectuals. There are still plenty of people in Washington who advocate going for broke, who still retain fantastic illusions. There remains the imponderable factor of rapture - fantasy and illusions mixed with desires. Is victory around the corner if we escalate with more troops? Will the Iraqi troops the Americans train attain victory over enemies that eluded US forces? Many much wiser presidents have pursued such chimera. Why not Bush too? Facts on the ground, which are much greater in constricting US power than they were six years ago, are a critical factor. They may not be sufficient to prevent irrational behavior. We simply cannot know. All of these factors, and perhaps others not mentioned here, will affect one another. The whole is very often no stronger than all the parts. All surprises that thwart the Bush administration's freedom to act are now to be welcomed, and while the world's financial system is the leading candidate for upsetting the United States' calculations, it is scarcely the only one. The facts on the ground, realities rather than decisions, are usually crucial, and here the US is losing in its megalomaniac ambition to shape the world. It has been this way for many nations led by men far superior in intellect to George Bush. Wishes are not reality and the US has an endemic ability to hold on to its wishes and fantasies as long as possible. Desire often leads to its acting despite itself. But its resources are far more constrained now than they were six years ago, much less during the Vietnam War, which it lost. The US public is already deeply alienated, the world financial system is teetering, the United States' military resources are virtually exhausted. We shall see. atimes.com