The Murmur of Crow: Turkeys and Rats and Ducks, Oh My!

Posted by Brandon Crow on 11.21.2006

Does Bush have any friends left in Washington? Is his stubborn streak to blame?

Isn't it amazing how much and how little things can actually change?

Two weeks ago, the American people swept the Republicans out of Congress and replaced them with Democrats in the hope of some change. And then it looked like change was coming.

Donald Rumsfeld was fired the very next day (about three months too late if done for political reasons and 18 months too late for practical reasons), Bush called the election a "thumpin'" and then met with the newly elected Democratic leaders. The man even wore a blue tie…

Things sure felt different. Politics even smelled different that week.

But that was before Bush entrenched himself once again into the NeoCon ideology, back into his neanderthal belief that only he knows what's good for America and for Iraq. Since the "let's all just get along" photo ops two weeks ago, nothing has changed for Bush. The Democrats are looking to slowly draw down troop levels and look for a political solution instead of solely relying on a military one; Bush has done an about face.

Once again, he is all about "stay the course." Oh, of course, he doesn't use those words anymore, but we all know that his "resolve" has turned ugly once more into what we've come to know as the obtuse Bush Stubborness.

Well, at least it's Turkey Day this week and Bush can go home to Crawford where he still has some friends.

At least he can enjoy four days of leisure (days following Katrina don't officially count as vacation days) and put the elections, Iraq and the American will out of his mind. For four days, he can be King George once again.

The news in the real world, however, isn't quite as rosy and felicitous. Bechtel Corp., one of the largest "engineering" companies in the US has pulled up stakes from its projects in Iraq. UPI (United Press International) reported that "[i]n early 2003, Washington gave the San Francisco company the job of rebuilding Iraq`s water and electrical plants, its bridges, schools and a port. This week Bechtel said it has completed 97 of 99 projects."

So why is Bechtel not finishing up the final two projects?

According to Bechtel spokesperson Cliff Mumm, "[we] cannot recall as hostile an environment…we were told it would be a permissive environment. But to the horror of everyone, it never stabilized. It just went down, down, down, and to this day it continues to go down."

That sure doesn't sound like Iraq is doing great or improving.

But wait…there's more! The desertions don't end there! Richard Perle, one of the most fanatic engineers of the Iraq Invasion, has suddenly had a change of heart as well. Perle told Vanity Fair magazine the Bush Administration had turned the war into a total disaster. He even went as far as to call the administration "dysfunctional."

Hmm…looks like the rats are jumping ship…

But wait! There's much, much more! For the low, low price of just $3.99, you get the Bechtel backpedal, the Richard Perle Reverse Plunge AND for a limited time only, we will also throw in Kenneth Adelman!

Yes! Kenneth Adelman! Yet another Neocon activist-warmonger who gave "sound" advice to Bush and Company about the "cakewalk of Iraq." By the way, "cakewalk" was how Adelman described the invasion of Iraq to the administration.

Peter Baker, Washington Post writer, writes in an article on November 19th, that "the weekend after the statue of Saddam Hussein fell, Kenneth Adelman and a couple of other promoters of the Iraq war gathered at Vice President Cheney's residence to celebrate. The invasion had been the "cakewalk" Adelman predicted. Cheney and his guests raised their glasses, toasting President Bush and victory."

Hey, doesn't this sound like hanging a Mission Accomplished banner across the deck of a battleship? Or perhaps a metaphor would be "dancing in the end zone before the game has been won." Or maybe even better, "measuring the windows for new drapes before the election's taken place."

Boy, do these conservative nutjobs ever look at themselves when they bash other people?

In any case, Baker continues that on the festive evening in question, Adelman had opined that "it was a euphoric moment." However, 43 months later, "the cakewalk looks more like a death march, and Adelman has broken with the Bush team. He had an angry falling-out with Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. He and Cheney are no longer on speaking terms. And he believes that ‘the president is ultimately responsible for the debacle that was Iraq.'"
Except Bush doesn't seem to know yet neither that he is responsible nor that it is a debacle. How dense is this man? Earth to Bush…when the folks who whispered the sweet nothings in your ear about the cakewalk and your glorious statue bronzed in a Bahgdad square are calling it a total failure, it's a total failure.

Failure Accomplished.

Oh, but that's not the end of the story, Crowcaine addicts… no, no. Not by a long shot. Adelman continues his criticism of Bush by saying, "There are a lot of lives that are lost," Adelman said in an interview last week. "[a] country's at stake. A region's at stake. This is a gigantic situation. . . .this didn't have to be managed this bad. It's just awful."

The Bush White House, as it's inclined to do, simply brushed Adelman off as they have done the Democrats for so many years. They called it "Monday morning quarterbacking." All I've got to say is, at least someone's quarterbacking…

Adelman has the last word though. He slams the administration by admitting his own mistake in trusting and believing that Bush's national security team was quite possibly "the most competent in a half century."

He continues, "they turned out to be among the most incompetent teams in the postwar era. Not only did each of them, individually, have enormous flaws, but together they were deadly, dysfunctional."

Wow…take that Richard Perle. You had only castigated the Bush team as "dysfunctional." Adelman, the eloquent son of a bitch that he is, has trumped your little quip by categorizing the Bush team as both deadly AND dysfunctional.

And so, it seems "Harvard Bush" has hit rock bottom. But at least he still has the support of the Old NeoCon Guard, right?

Guess again. As an added bonus, the$3.99 gets you Bechtel, Perle and Adelman…and now, if you're one of the first 100 callers, you will also get to see Henry Kissinger disrespect "Dubya."

Even Kissinger, one of the chief archictects of the Vietnam War, has come out and said that victory in Iraq is no longer possible. When Henry Kissinger your failed war cannot win, your failed war cannot win.

Yes, those "plumps" you hear are the sounds of rats hitting the water after bailing over the sides of the Titanic.

I don't know if Bush will ever see or recognize that he has failed. I don't even know if he'll wake up and acknowledge that we cannot stay the course in Iraq. I certainly hope the Iraq Study Group led by Jim Baker forcibly tells him he needs to change course. But even then, I'm uncertain Bush will get it.
When the man makes up his mind that God wants him to do something, well, it's pretty tough to get through. Even when he's a totally lame duck.

The pressing question of the day is, how many more people—Americans, Iraqi or otherwise—have to die in the time it takes Bush to acknowledge his mistake? How much more evidence need there be that the invasion and subsequent war was poorly planned and pitifully executed?

Even NeoCons spanning the eras have called for a change in course. It must be getting mighty lonely in the Oval Office with just yourself and Dick Cheney.

Well, at least it's Turkey Day this week and Bush can go home to Crawford where he still has some friends.

In Crow We Trust.

Go read the following:

The Big Boss, Jason Easley will be on vacation this week. Plus, he noticed I made some fun of his column title in the last Heineken Dialogues. I'd best plug his work erst he decides to fire me…yet again.

Dan Martin gives us some lucid insights into populism and evangelical voters.

Ray Robison debuts at 411 Politics. He argues that Richard Nixon is the new hero of the Democratic Party. Interesting, except that he commits the classic fallacy of Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc (after this, therefore because of this). Just because Nixon wanted to draw down the troops in Vietnam back then and the Democrats want to draw down troops in Iraq today, it does not mean the Democrats look to Nixon as a hero.

This "logic" would be the equivalent of me saying Bill Clinton balanced the budget. Any Republican president or Congress that balances the budget ever again must have adopted Clinton as their unflinching hero.

But all in all, it's a good read. "RayRob" (b/c we already have a "Ray"—Church—here) is very intelligent and knowledgeable. Check him out and give him a holler.