We've Already Lost The "War on Terror"

Our beloved president has been laying on the war rhetoric pretty thick lately, and not about Iraq, either. The other one. Besides warning Iran against supporting Shiite militias in Iraq, the US is actually placing not one but two carrier groups into the Persian Gulf, ostensibly to make Iran nervous. Meanwhile, Bush claims that he isn't considering any action against Iran, just against the militias Iran supports. An article in The Guardian states that US officials think that Iranian agents "masterminded" the January 20 Karbala raid that ended with 5 dead American soldiers. When Bush makes these threats against Iran, however, he is being unnecessarily belligerent and provocative. We're already fighting on the ground in Iraq. It's no secret that Iran supports the Shiite militias, or that Saudi Arabia supports the Sunni minority (which ruled Iraq under Hussein). Those battle lines are drawn and clearly evident to anyone with even a tertiary understanding of what is happening in the Persian Gulf region.

So what is the point of railing against Iran instead of just doing what we've been doing all along, which is to attack the Iraqi Shiite militias with bombs and bombast? It must be because Bush actually has a military strike against Iran in mind. He couldn't possible be considering any kind of invasion, and if he is then the crazy vs. stupid debate about him will be answered; he'd have to be both. There are some fundamental differences between Iran and Iraq that are a bit more important than a one-letter difference in their names. Iran has a population of almost 80 million people, most of whom are under 35 years of age. They are also a more unified nation, with none of the Kurd/Sunni/Shiite religious and ethnic strife that is currently making life hell for Iraq's 27 million people.

None of this even takes into account how spent our military is, with many US troops on their 3rd or 4th tour of duty in Iraq. And with a job approval rating hovering around 30%, a big, fat question hovers above the bellicose balderdash that Bush is spewing: What the fuck is this president thinking? He must think that we're on the verge of some sort of stunning breakthrough in Iraq, and that Iran will blanche when they see the Eisenhower and Stennis carrier strike groups sailing past the Straight of Hormuz. The combination of success in Iraq and American firepower in the gulf will also force Iran to abandon her nuclear (or "nucular") ambitions. So, he thinks, time will prove that he was not a boob, after all. Instead, he was a masterful strategist who ignored his critics and crafted a safe and flourishing Middle East in the wake of the worst terrorist attack in the history of the world. Bush as realpolitik manipulor extraordinairre. Yes, he must think that, or something like it. Such dreams would help explain his otherwise inexplicable, on-going zeal for a series of politically unpopular military policies that have met with nothing but failure and criticism.

But that would mean that our president is delusional. That he has little or no understanding of what he is doing, and he is doing an awful lot. An awful lot. That would also make him the most dangerous man in the history of the world, given the proverbial buttons he is pushing and the powerful finger he is pushing them with.

Just think for a second how many people have died because Al Gore didn't win his home state of Tennessee in the 2000 election. Or that he actually won the popular vote outright. Or that, without the 9/11 attack, Bush would have been a pathetic, one term president like his father. Not doing much...just clearing brush in Crawford, Texas and passing favorable tax legislation for his wealthy friends. But with 9/11 he gets to play war and throw away civil liberties as if they were only put there to annoy him, the Great Decider.

I can't help but think that when those planes hit the World Trade Center, with Bush Jr. as president, we lost the War on Terror before it started.