It’s official, the “new” Bush policy on Iraq is to…wait for it…do exactly what hasn’t been working for years. But this time, with 20,000 more troops.
I don’t have the time or the energy to really get into it right now except to ask: is this really the state of our democracy? Five depressing years of the Bush Docrine are merely being replaced by a few more of the McCain Doctrine? There are a lot of things in this world to to be optimistic about, but sometimes…it’s hard to believe what a mess has been made of all this.
If you’re curious about the pyschology of it all, there’s a nice piece at Hullabaloo worth reading.
It may be a hopeless cause at this point, but if you’re against this escalation, it certainly wouldn’t hurt to make your position known. The Democrats seem intent on passing a non-binding resolution on this, but Ted Kennedy has proposed a bill with teeth to restrict funding for any escalation. It’s not going to pass, but maybe if the overwhelming public opposition is made even more clear, it could have a chance.
Iraq – Andrej and Tim (by way of Another Form of Relief)
On a slightly less depressing note: some news out of Sudan which is not really encouraging but at least might be a step in the right direction: Bill Richardson (presidential hopeful) has negotiated a cease-fire in Darfur. Now, they’ve had cease-fires in the past that amounted to virtually nothing, and Richardson wasn’t able to extract any significant compromises from the government, but at least he didn’t pour gasoline on an open fire, like Bush seems to be doing.