I'd like to believe:

1. that Dubya and his advisors truly believe that Iraq is THE CENTRAL FRONT in the Global War on Terrorism;

2. that Iraq truly IS this central front in the GWOT;

2. that it's even possible to wage a military war on a TACTIC like terrorism, and that it's the best choice to do so;

3. that Dubya et al. clearly recognize the long-term global consequences of our presence in Iraq;

4. that Dubya et al. fully understand the effects on our military personnel and their families resulting from this war;

5. and finally, that there actually is a "Plan B", just in case "Plan A" (this 20,000+ "surge") does NOT work.

Bottom line, I'd LIKE to believe all these things, but I don't. There needs to be some basis beyond pure trust and pure faith. A majority of Americans simply find nothing but complete trust and blind faith to rely on with this President, and it's no longer enough.

My God, NO ONE with a grain of sense ever wanted failure in Iraq. At some point, though, isn't there only one rational thing to do -- to take the helm from the captain who's driven you onto the rocks repeatedly? We look derisively at the $210 million golden parachute of Home Depot's ousted CEO -- maybe that's money well spent to get rid of their failed leader!

Hmmm, what would it take to get the CEO of the United States to go into early retirement in Crawford, TX? Just asking...

From this morning's NYT report by John Burns & Sabrina Tavernise on Iraqi reaction to the Bush "plan":

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"Within hours of Mr. Bush’s speech, American commanders were meeting with their Iraqi counterparts in Baghdad to work out the details of a new command arrangement that would give Mr. Maliki a direct role in overseeing the new crackdown. The Iraqis named a commander for the operation, Lt. Gen. Aboud Gambar, a Shiite from southern Iraq who was a top general in Saddam Hussein’s army until the American-led invasion in 2003.

General Gambar will report directly to Mr. Maliki, outside the chain of command that runs through the Defense Ministry, which the Maliki government has long viewed as a bastion of American influence, and, because the defense minister is a Sunni, of resistance to Shiite control. General Gambar will have two deputies, one for the heavily Shiite east part of Baghdad, another for the mostly Sunni west part, and they will oversee nine new military districts, each assigned an Iraqi brigade."

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Oh, GREAT -- this bodes SO well for reconciliation and an end to sectarian divisions.

...that all the bad guys are in Iraq, those bad guys are not ONLY IN IRAQ. The inevitable conclusion is that Bush's apparent sabre-rattling over Iran and Syria was really something quite different -- a promise to expand involvement into other countries.

It's the only conclusion possible -- we've got to follow the bad guys back to their lairs, smoke them out and bring them to justice. Just as we did with Osama bin Laden, right?

War without end, amen. Just like Orwell foretold...

Thomas Jefferson succinctly answered Mr. Gates centuries ago in the Declaration of Independence -- here, the PEOPLE rule, and there is no divine right or inherent governmental power beyond the power of the people to alter or abolish:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."

Claims of mushroom clouds and drones from Iraq targeting our cities were NOTHING more than hype and fright.

If your post doesn't get an Editor's Choice star, it's a crime. You may have written the final word on this subject -- All You Need to Know, as Stephen Colbert puts it.

I'd give you multiple Editor's Choice stars, to be honest! Great work.

Item excerpted from the NYT's "The Caucus" blog:

"Members of the Bush administration will continue working to persuade lawmakers, allies and the public of the strategy’s wisdom over the weekend. Mr. Bush will appear on CBS’s “60 Minutes,” Vice President Cheney is going on “Fox News Sunday,” and Ms. Rice heading off to the Middle East and Europe to convince international allies."

Gee, wouldn't it be ironic if 60 Minutes wheeled out their heavyweight interviewer, the semi-retired Mike Wallace, for the Bush segment? It would be great to compare and contrast his treatment of the President with his son's inevitable "kid gloves" treatment of Cheney on Fox News Sunday. Chris Wallace will probably all but French-kiss the Vice President on Faux News...