Dr. J.’s Short Shot No. 13: The BushGoal for iraq

The Report of the Iraq Study Group, the independent report from senior American diplomat Andrew Cordesman, various assessments from the CIA and the Pentagon themselves, all say that the U.S. is losing, or at least losing ground, in Iraq. All agree that there has to be some kind of reasonable, rational plan for a U.S. military withdrawal from Iraq within some reasonable period of time, “victory” or no. Yet in his Dec. 20, 2006 press conference, referenced on BuzzFlash on Dec. 21, Bush said:

”Victory in Iraq is achievable . . . . It hadn’t happened nearly as quickly as I hoped it would have. . . .” Confirming that he either cannot or will not read or listen, he went on to say: “But I also don’t believe most Americans want us just to get out now, . . . . A lot of Americans understand the consequences of defeat [he did not define “defeat”]. Retreat would embolden radicals. It would hurt the credibility of the United States.” He concluded this particular riff with: “[W]e’re not winning. We’re not losing. [W]e’re not succeeding nearly as fast as I wanted . . . . [C]onditions are tough in Iraq, particularly in Baghdad. . . . I believe that we’re going to win [he did not define “win”]. I believe that – and, by the way, if I didn’t think that, I wouldn’t have our troops there.”

And so, the latest plan is to send in 20-30,000 more troops from an already way over-stretched armed force. This is a plan that his top generals (to whom he always listens, of course) have told him a) won’t work and b) beyond not working may well make things worse. In U.S. Iraq Commanding General Casey’s (paraphrased) words, it would make things appear even more like an occupation. That despite the military advice, Bush is still pushing ahead is indicative of what his real goals, to which I have previously spoken, are.

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(While his plan is on the surface being adhered to by the top commanders, the same AP article cited above also noted that: “The shift in policy is likely to be accompanied by a shuffle of top American generals in Iraq. Army Gen. John P. Abizaid, commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East, has submitted plans to go ahead with a retirement that is months overdue. And the top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. George Casey, has indicated he may not stay much longer than the end of this year. Abizaid and Casey have opposed sending more troops to Iraq, and their departures could make it easier for Bush to send more soldiers to the war.”)

It is becoming clearer every day that the BushCheney plan for Iraq is for Permanent War, with permanent killing of U.S. servicepople and, in much larger numbers, Iraqis, military and civilian alike. Let us hope that once retired, either Gen. Abizaid or Gen. Casey or both, will remember one of the primary responsibilities of generals, a lesson surely emphasized for them at West Point. That is not to go on taking casualties when it is clear that the military element of the war is lost. If they do, let us hope that they will speak out against the BushCheney policy, just as Colin Powell has (finally) done. But whether or not they do, the anti-war political leadership in both parties will have to address this question above all others, better sooner than later.

This column first appeared on BuzzFlash on Mon, 12/25/2006 – 8:30pm. http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/jonas/038

“Dr. J.” is a nom-de-plume for Steven Jonas, MD, MPH, a Professor of Preventive Medicine at Stony Brook University (NY) a weekly Contributing Author for The Political Junkies (www.thepoliticaljunkies.net) and a Columnist for BuzzFlash.

Dr. J.’s Short Shot No. 12: Tony Snow’s Job

 

 Most observers agree that the unanimous report of the Iraq Study Group is totally damning the Bush-Cheney policy for Iraq, as well as on its implementation. (It should be noted that among the members of the Group are former Senator Alan Simpson, one of the most conservative Republican Senators ever, before the Santorum-Inhofe crowd and Ed Meese, one-time President of the National Council for Policy [he may still be; they are very secretive], the organization for all of the major right and far right-wing organizations in the US.) At the White House press conference on Dec. 6, 2006, following the report’s release, David Gregory of NBC News, reading from the Report, asked White House press secretary Tony Snow if he didn’t think that its conclusions were indeed damning. Snow responded by attacking Gregory for asking a “partisan” question, and in the subsequent colloquy about that issue, not the report’s findings, managed to avoid dealing with the latter altogether.

 Thus Snow engaged in the classic right-wing response to potentially damning questions: always attack, never defend, and attack the questioner; do not deal with the substance of the question. In classic terms: kill the messenger. Snow has done this expertly in recent times on such matters as whether the Bush policy is still “stay the course” when they have announced that it is isn’t, and whether the civil war in Iraq is really a civil war when everyone else but them says that it is. So how come? Well, Tony Snow is just very expertly doing the job he was hired to do, and David Gregory and an occasional other brave journalist or no, he just isn’t going to change.

 In this space last April (“A Commentary on the Tony Snow Job“) it was noted that the job Snow was hired to do is surely not to answer questions forthrightly, honestly, and openly; is surely not to establish a cooperative relationship between the White House and the media; is surely not to increase the amount of information made available to the American people about the Executive Branch of their government, how it operates, and what it is doing. So what was, and is, it then?

 1. First, Snow was to revive the old CNN political show “Crossfire,” where yelling and screaming was substituted for rational discussion and disagreement over significant political issues. Reducing reporters to jelly by yelling at them, literally or figuratively, whether they yell back or not, is job one.2. Further demean and disdain the media, treating them as untrustworthy and unimportant. Obfuscate, conceal, distract, distort, and lie, with more skill than any previous holder of the position. 3. Begin the merger of the Privatized Ministry of Propaganda, of which F”N”C is the prime property, into the government.4. Snow is not a “newsman.” He is a voice of Radical Right-wing Republicanism. Hiring him clearly demonstrates what the Georgites think that “news” is all about — as made so clear every day by the F”N”C (which I do watch, folks): PROPAGANDA.

 So yesterday, Tony Snow certainly fulfilled his job description. As for his parent, it was said here last April that the Volkischer Beobachter (the Nazi Party’s daily “newspaper”) is right around the corner. Well, this morning (Dec. 7, 2006, Pearl Harbor Day, it happens), the three major stories dealt with on the prime 7 AM ST “Fox and Friends” segment (the morning show of the F”N”C for those smart enough never to look at Fox) were, in order: the resignation of one of Jimmy Carter’s staff over the former President’s publication of a book that condemns Israeli policy in the Occupied Territories, the announced plans of NASA to establish a permanent base on the moon and from there go on to a manned landing on Mars, and the fight against the “War on Christmas.” The ISG Report was mentioned briefly in their brief “news” segment. I kid you not.

This not-so-short shot was originally  Bpublished on BuzzFlash on Thu, 12/07/2006 – 12:24pm. http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/jonas/035

 

“Dr. J” is a nom-de-plume for Steven Jonas, MD, MPH, a Professor of Preventive Medicine at Stony Brook University (NY) a weekly Contributing Author for The Political Junkies (www.thepoliticaljunkies.net) and a Columnist for BuzzFlash.

Dr. J.’s Short Shot No. 11: Iraqi Straws in the Wind

Bush is fiddling while Iraq burns. He is stood up at dinner by his own designated Iraqi Prime Minister. But he keeps on saying “we will stay until the job is done, we will give the PM all the help he needs, until victory is achieved,” even though we are no longer “staying the course,” without ever defining victory. He is just delighted to have the battle of words rage over what we should call what is going on in Iraq rather than over the total failure of his policy regardless of what it is called.

 For some time I have wondered if the various sides in the Iraq civil war would ever come to their senses and realize that their prime enemy is not each other but the U.S., which is an occupying force with its own agenda: oil and bases, and for the Cheney wing, permanent war at the permanent expense of Iraq. Yesterday morning on CNN in a news item that I have not yet seen elsewhere, it was stated that several prominent Sunni and Christian leaders have reached out to Muqtada al-Sadr, the most prominent anti-US Shiite leader. He had temporarily suspended the participation of several of his top aides in the current government, to protest Prime Minister al-Maliki’s meeting with Bush in Jordan.

The aforementioned leaders have said that they are looking for common ground with al-Sadr and are in the process of asking the UN to review its mandate under which the U.S. claims to be acting. Yes, folks, the key to achieving peace in Iraq may very well not be the continued U.S. presence there but its departure at the earliest possible time. If such a demand comes from a united Iraqi front, I just wonder what Busheney will do then. We already know what both the Baker wing of the Republican Party and the Congressional Democrats will be doing: dancing down the Congressional isles together.

This item was originally published on BuzzFlash on Fri, 12/01/2006 – 11:17am. Steven Jonas http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/jonas/033Dr. J. is a nom-de-plume for Steven Jonas, MD, MPH, a Professor of Preventive Medicine at Stony Brook University (NY) a weekly Contributing Author for The Political Junkies (www.thepoliticaljunkies.net) and a Columnist for BuzzFlash.

Dr. J.’s Short Shot No. 10: Defining Democracy and Freedom: Who Said This?

Recently, the leader of a major world power offered a definition of democracy and freedom that I thought our readers might be interested in seeing. It stands in such contrast to the functional definition offered by our very own President, for our very own people, embodied as it is in the Patriot Act and the “Military Commissions Act” which, among other things repeal the First, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Eighth Amendments to the US Constitution, and on that sly addition to the “Defense Appropriations” Bill that allows the President to use the Army to deal with “domestic insurrection,” however he might define it. And so…“Freedom is universal and democracy is universal. People desire to live in free societies. The vast majority of people want to live in moderation and not have extremists kill innocent people. Our policies are to promote that kind of form of government. Democracies yield peace. Democracies don’t fight each other. It’s a universal right. Democracy means you can worship any way you choose, freely. People protest, that’s a good sign. It’s a sign of a healthy society.”

 Yes, folks, these words actually appeared in a response George Bush made to a question delivered at the press conference that followed his meeting with President Yudhoyono of Indonesia on Nov. 20, 2006.

 So the follow-up question has to be, “What is this guy on, anyway?”

This item originally appeared on BuzzFlash on Tue, 11/28/2006 – 4:35pm.

http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/jonas/032

“Dr. J.” is a nom-de-plume for Steven Jonas, MD, MPH, a Professor of Preventive Medicine at Stony Brook University (NY) a weekly Contributing Author for The Political Junkies (www.thepoliticaljunkies.net) and a Columnist for BuzzFlash.