The Astonishing Mr. Bush

Op Ed to Herald Leader.

W. Continues to astonish us, if we are listening and looking. Now, when he
finally faces our Iraqi war dead it is to use them. To veterans at Salt Lake
City on Monday, the new reason we should stay in Iraq is "to finish the task
they gave their lives for."

Other reasons for the Iraqi war have collapsed as pretentious: no WMD, no
9/11 link to Iraq, and now no real democracy. W. finds it politically useful
to use our war dead as plain and sufficient reason for continuing.

Those of us who lived through Vietnam vividly remember that the same false
reasoning cost us another 25,000 Americans wasted. Twenty-five thousand
American lives. From the middle of the war, late sixties, it was clear to
outsiders and a few insiders charged with strategic analysis (Pentagon
Papers) that the war could not be won. We could not and would not face this
reality. America had never "lost a war."

Apparently we still cannot face the limits of American power and military
might. Combat veterans from Vietnam era, many of them, blame the Vietnam
failure on the wimpy American public, beguiled by the wimpy, soft hearted
liberals. Some believe we wimped out by not using the Bomb.

Smearing of wimpy liberals and those conned by them continues. It is the
Rove tactic that has been very successful in keeping the most disconnected
president of our time in the White House.

W. is now ready to declare "victory," as we did in Vietnam. But we have to
keep on killing and have our kids killed because so many of our kids have
been killed. Vietnam redux as W. finds new places to ride his $3k Trek Fuel
bike.

Only more astonishing is how the political right can keep justifying to
itself and smearing the opposition in order to remain righteously committed
to the Tough Guy Stand Tall cause, regardless. Some of these are beginning
to carp at W. for not winning the war. Escalation of war is entirely likely
to satisfy these supporters and to more clearly separate warriors from wimps
in the 2006 elections. Testosterone will likely prevail.

This summer, a vast disconnect has emerged and is being solidified. Warriors
versus Wimps. Patriots versus Pantywaists, Convinced versus Cowards. Or is
it simply Idealists who will pay any price for their Holy War versus hard
nosed Realists? Vietnam is still with us. We are facing or not facing the
limits of American power, either with blind pride and denial or with
realism.

P.S. Do not expect W. to give up his 9/11 - Iraqi linking. It is a necessary
part of his bubble and a vital part of his image as a successful War
President. Having begun with this conceit he cannot quit now without facing
his own blindness and alienating his True Believers. The Big Lie has a life
of its own.

Paschal Baute