Bush : When It Doubt, Escalate The War

Troop "Surge' Has Already Begun

Bush Faces Greater War In Iraq And At Home

This post has been extracted from a larger story on 'Your New Reality'.


There was something surreal about watching and listening to President Bush lightly detail his plans for how to end the Iraq War. Or perhaps that should be...how to escalate the Iraq War. Sending tens of thousands more troops into the streets of Baghdad will do nothing but escalate the war.

The fact that Bush wants to send more at least 21,000 more troops into Iraq, for starters, is a disaster for America and for the Iraqis.

These mostly untrained (by comparison to previous wars) soldiers are going to get slaughtered in the streets of Baghdad. And Bush is going to face a very real mutiny, not only in the Armed Forces, and in Congress, but within the Republican Party.

In Iraq, if the Americans really do go after the militias of Moqtada al-Sadr, the resentment within his own government is going to be enormous, let alone in the Shia neighbourhoods of Baghdad.

If the idea is that increased slaughter of Shia and Sunni militias and insurgents will calm the place down, then the president has clearly lost his mind.

But, of course, that is not what it's about at all. In actuality, the Maliki government will likely warn the Medhi Army brigades to lay low when the increased US troop presence hits the streets of Baghdad. With less militias on the streets, the place will look and feel much calmer, and this will allow Bush to claim that his strategy is working.

Perhaps.

But that's not going to solve the problems growing into a dark cloud over the White House.

Demonstrations against the War and Bush are likely to grow and fill the streets of Washington DC in the months ahead.

We'll come back to his utterly bizarre gabble about having to "deal with" Iran and Syria to win the War On Iraq later. But know this : there isn't a credible intelligence or military expert in the world who truly believes that Iran and Syria are pulling all the strings of the battles of Baghdad, and Anbar.

Bush's own intelligence people have said, repeatedly, that Al Qaeda's influence in Iraq is next to worthless. Yes, there are fighters in Iraq who you could say belong to Al Qaeda, but they are not the major reason why there is so much bloodshed in this stumbling democracy.

Clan warfare, sectarian revenge, ethnic cleansing, criminal gangs, most of all of whom are citizens of Iraq, are dishing out the daily doses of violence. Added to that, there is very likely an element of "foreign fighters" but not they do not constitute the forces that Bush would have you believe.

Sunni and Shiite clerics regularly get together to try and work out who is planting bombs in the cars of ordinary Iraqis. People who get in their cars to go to work, or to go shopping, and suddenly their vehicles are remotely detonated, killing dozens of people around them.

These kinds of mysterious bombings, all too often classed as "suicide bombings" have been occurring since the middle of 2003, and yet they get no serious look in from the major media. Outside of Iraq and the Arab media, that is.

There are very dangerous, very deadly forces adding to the carnage in Iraq, but they are not simply pissed off Sunnis and Shiites flooding in from Iran and Syria to give their lives to Allah.

Every major war in the 20th century were beset by savage espionage attacks on civilians, and civilian infrastructure. This is part and parcel of war fighting. This doesn't necessarily mean that there are American special forces dumping bombs into the trunks of cars at check-points, but not every check-point is manned by Coalition of the Willing troops, or the Iraqi Army.

Everyone has heard stories of a local window repairer who isn't doing enough business in his hometown to stay in business. So late at night, he downs a few beers, gets up his courage, and walks down the deserted main street, smashing windows with a hammer. The next morning, he gets flooded with new business to get all those windows repaired.

Now imagine that scenario in Baghdad, and across Iraq. From a bread shop to schools to glazers to car rental agencies to fuel stations to some of the most valuable oil pipelines on the planet.

And then add this to the mix : Iraq is open slather now for anyone who wants to settle a debt, kidnap and rape and kill children, attack the oil and energy infrastructure and go on serial killing sprees.

Another 20,000 American soldiers are not going to bring all of that to a close. But it will break what remains of the spirit of Americans, as their greatest fears quickly become true : jets flying into airbases in Nebraska and Ohio filled solid with flag-draped coffins, holding the remains of 19 and 20 year old kids.

This war will not end until Americans make it end. Not American politicians, American citizens. But they are going to have to, basically, go to war against their own government, and even the Democrats are unlikely to be their allies in their war at home.

It's ugly in Iraq. But it's going to get plenty ugly in America in the coming year.

The question now is : How far will BushCo. push Americans before they snap in the tens of millions?

Frankly, if I was a leader in America today, and the streets of my cities were alive with roaming Iraqi, traumatised veterans trained in all aspects of warfare, with easy access to high-powered weaponry, I would not be trying to piss them off any further.

Let alone being involved in actions that piss off the friends and relatives of all those veterans, who have learned from those back from the war the true and monumentally fucked-up reality of life on the ground in Iraq, beyond the swirly, syrupy hype of BushCo.'s dream factory.

And now to the news :

The Alternative Bush "Troop" Surge Speech : "Please Don't Saddaminate Me"

Months Of Bloody Fighting In The Streets Of Baghdad Ahead, Military Officials Warn

Juan Cole : The Bush "Fantasy" About Iran And Syria's Involvement In The War

Intensfied Iraq War Will Distract Congress From The Real War Plans : The Coming Assault On Iran

One Last Throw Of The Dice For President Bush : The Make It Work Or Lose It All Troop Surge

Far Right War Blog Cheerleader In Chief, Michelle Malkin, Visits Iraq And Is Clearly Distressed By What She Learns In The Slums Of Baghdad

The Bush "Surge" Of Troops Into Iraq Began Before He Even Finished His Speech

The Vice President Of Iraq : "Don't Give Up On Iraq Yet"

Robert Fisk : So Into The Graveyard Of Iraq They Go, 20,000 More Americans Offered Up As Bush's Sacrifice

Bush Says He Will Clamp Down On Iran & Syria As Part Of New 'War On Terror' Strategy

Remember Afghanistan? NATO Claims 150 Militants Killed In Major Battles On Pakistan Border