Saddam Hussein is executed in Iraq, a grisly affair with Shi'a taunts and the ex-President cursing Persians and Americans to the end. Was he brave (some said)? Were they hasty (some say)?
None of it matters. The real news is, the death of Iraq's ex-ruler is a footnote to the everyday horrors now gripping that shattered land. Bush, trailing misinformation and micalculation in his propwash, has turbo-driven us (and Iraqis) into a policy and military disaster the likes of which we've not seen--and are not likely to see the end of any time soon.
Many of us, (including this writer) regret having trusted Bush even briefly when he said they'd find WMDs. What were we thinking (smarting from 9-11)? Now, facing the worst foreign policy blunder in American history, can we find any good in it?
A cynic would say that if you keep the Islamists roiled, and fighting one another, then they have less time to hatch plots to nuke us here. But that cannot be an excuse for the wretched failures on the ground in Iraq.
Another cynic might say it isn't about fighting terrorism at all--or even trying to win on the ground. It's all about war contracts for Halliburton and oil profits for Bush cronies.
Is it too simple to say that? I've noted often that when someone's behavior becomes inexplicable, then selfishness can help explain it. And Bush's behavior has gone way beyond inexplicable.
With Iraq, we measure the depth of Bush's failure by the lack of real news in the capture, trial and execution of the enemy's leader: things are much too dire in Iraq for that to even matter. Observing that peculiar fact, we can hark back to the day in November of 2000 when we watched in sick horror as the Alito court appointed Bush Leader of the Free World. We may have felt then that someone had snatched our country from us in the night and left us with a changeling nation; one where even the pretense of competence and fair play were dismissed with a shrug. And now we find ourselves steeped in the awfulness we suspected Bush would bring.
Only Saddam is gone. The war, and Bush's absolute failure as a President, remain.
--Renaissance
Friday, January 05, 2007
