SOME GUT WRENCHING GENERALITIES

    It is widely agreed (even by our Generals) as
reported by the Washington Post, that the Iraqi government is unlikely
to meet ANY of the political and security goals or time lines President
Bush set forth in January.  Senior administration officials have
confirmed this, and on point, General David Petreus has recently
acknowledged there will be no military solution in Iraq.  That
noted, Chuck Hagel, Republican senator from Nebraska asserted Sunday on
“Meet the Press”, that with our military bogged down in Iraq, we can’t
find and fight the terrorism in OTHER LOCALES around the world WHICH
ACTUALLY MAY THEATEN US.  What to do: let’s first honestly face
what we haven’t done.  Senator Hagel says a great opportunity was
missed last year by Mr. Bush in not implementing the recommendations of
the Baker Hamilton Commission and, as to those who say if we withdraw,
there’d be a mess, a bold insurgency, and a civil war well . . . what
do we have now?  The commission’s approach may be our only
reasonable course, not perfect but reasonable.  Senator Hagel went
on to draw parallels between this war and the war in Vietnam; he now
feels that like Vietnam, the invasion of Iraq was built, best case, on
an “edifice of distortion”.

    This all brings to mind the thoughts of my dear late
father-in-law, Colonel Robert Matheson, who served under a man named
George Patton, on the front, in the WW II European Theater . . . at the
height.  Bob said to rest assured that Patton’s men did not like
the General one whit.  Robert’s comments were short and to the
point but spoke volumes:  as he explained that when Patton’s
soldiers called him “blood and guts”, we need to remember it was “his
guts, our blood”.   And it doesn’t take a great deal of
thought to see that that’s how Bush, Cheney and company have conducted
their adventure in Iraq: their guts, others blood.  Their cronies
get tax refunds, their children don’t serve while others suffer and
sacrifice.