Saturday 28th of December 2024
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muh durn daddy again .....

‘When I saw the Newsweek cover featuring Big Daddy Bush muscling toward the front with a diminished little Dubya skulking in the background, my first thought was: How is Junior going to react to this? Bush II's resentment toward his father is well-known – a resentment no doubt compounded by his lifelong, abject dependence on Daddy's financial and political pull – and I knew that Little Bush would not simply accept this media humiliation and move on.

Because for all his vaunted (and totally mendacious) "unconcern" with opinion polls and popularity ("Ah just do whut muh gut tells me is right"), Little Bush is actually one of the most vain and insecure men ever to sit in the White House; only Nixon can match him in this regard. Why else would he need to have his authority bolstered in such ludicrous ways – such as all those little "Commander-in-Chief" and "President of the United States" tags embossed onto his fancy quasi-military jackets and his running gear and belt-buckles and boots – and probably his toilet paper as well?

At every turn, he feels the anxious need to remind others, and himself, that he really is the president, he's the decider, he's the commander: "See, it says so right here on muh jacket!" (Meanwhile, the exaggerated swagger he affects – a labored caricature of stereotypical masculinity – bespeaks other sorts of insecurities prowling in the presidential psyche, but we won't go into that here.)’

Family Feud

Sinner son

From our ABC

Howard, Bush to discuss Iraq tactics over lunch
United States President George W Bush and Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, will have a lunchtime meeting with Prime Minister John Howard and Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer today to discuss future tactics in Iraq.

The meeting will take place on the margins of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Hanoi.

Mr Downer says a quick US withdrawal would destroy the Iraq Government and throw neighbouring countries into a security vortex.

"The consequences of that would not only be simply horrific within Iraq, obviously the Government would very quickly collapse," Mr Downer said.

Mr Howard says there is no cause for a fundamental change of strategy in Iraq, but tactics must be reviewed.

He says the US cannot leave Iraq in circumstances that look like defeat.

"Let's not muck around on this - if the coalition were to go from Iraq in circumstances seen as a defeat, that would be a colossal blow," he said.

"If that were to happen, I think that would be very, very bad for stability in our own region.

"It would embolden the terrorists and it would deliver a colossal blow to American prestige."

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Gus: our lying rodent "speaks the right words"... but words are cheap and can be found, usually free in a dictionary to spread on the masses like manure... But finding a proper equitable solution to achieve peace in Iraq and a greater stability in the region is not on the agenda of Mr Bush —unless if the US can rape the region leisurely. As long as there is kerfuffle in Iraq the US can stay there, pretending to solve it or protect it... because if Iraq was solved then the troops would not have to stay there could they? And the US wants troops to stay there... so the need for a bit of ongoing kerfuffle even if it's not a full blown civil war. The Iraqis thus are doing a good job, complying to the US secret desires to stay, by fighting each other. One day they might say: "okay, we are secure, we want to sell our petrol in Euro, you can bugger off" but that would be against the US interest, would it not? Of course it would not be expressed in such abrupt words, but the diplomacy and the smiles would be.

Sensible people

Syria seeks US pullout timetable           

Moallem, left, with Zebari. He is the first Syrian official to visit Iraq since 1982
[http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/45AB134F-986F-42FD-9FD5-30C1A55C08B5.htm|Setting a timetable for the withdrawal of US forces] from Iraq would reduce violence, Walid Moallem, the Syrian foreign minister, has said.
 
Moallem, on the first official Syrian visit to Iraq since 1982, and his Iraqi counterpart, Hoshyar Zebari, said on Sunday in Baghdad they had discussed restoring diplomatic relations between the two nations.

three new ways to lose .....

‘The Pentagon's closely guarded review of how to improve the situation in Iraq has outlined three basic options: Send in more troops, shrink the force but stay longer, or pull out, according to senior defense officials.

Insiders have dubbed the options "Go Big," "Go Long" and "Go Home." The group conducting the review is likely to recommend a combination of a small, short-term increase in U.S. troops and a long-term commitment to stepped-up training and advising of Iraqi forces, the officials said.

The military's study, commissioned by Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Peter Pace, comes at a time when escalating violence is causing Iraq policy to be reconsidered by both the White House and the congressionally chartered, bipartisan Iraq Study Group. Pace's effort will feed into the White House review, but military officials have made it clear they are operating independently.’

Pentagon May Suggest Short-Term Buildup Leading To Iraq Exit