Really Pissed Off!

On Monday, August 27, 2007, at 10:32 AM, EST, Alberto Gonzales announced in a brief statement that he was stepping down as Attorney General of the United States. Gonzales has been hammered by Congress, The Press and anyone who has half a brain for being the worst Attorney General in US History. We probably could find one that was worse if we dug into out History books, but this is the idiot with whom we had to deal with. Gonzales, from the beginning, was totally out of his league. There’s no sense in listing here how he bungled things as Attorney General, as it’s been making news for the past couple of years. Now, to top it off, would you ever think that you might ever say…..”Boy!, do I miss John Ashcroft!” No matter what pressure Congress, the Media and Public Opinion have placed on President Bush to rid the Administration of this travesty, Bush has refused to budge….until now. Why?

There have been a number of reasons why Gonzales got the boot, but they may have missed their mark. With the GAO Report on Iraq about to break and it appears that only a few benchmarks have been reached and General Peter Pace, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is recommending a reduction of troops in Iraq to fill other needs of national defense, Bush’s “Surge” is in for a fight for its life! No one is talking about the eight hundred pound elephant that’s due to arrive in September, but our future in Iraq is quickly reaching the road of no return. Bush WILL ask for another six to nine months for “The Surge” to continue its success. What will Congress do? They got off the hook when The Iraq Study Group, under James Baker and Lee Hamilton opened the door for a one time “Surge” to deal with insurgency in Iraq, but that’s come and about to be gone! Are the Democrats about to find the “balls” to finally say NO to Bush? Will they turn enough Republicans to vote NO to Bush? My guess is that the answer is NO!

No Democratic Presidential candidate has come up with a real plan to withdraw troops from Iraq so far. We hear vague plans on the removal troops from Iraq, but nothing of real substance. On the other hand, no Republican Presidential candidate has come up with any plan at all, unless they want to hang their hat along side Bush, although McCain’s position has not wavered from the end of the War and the beginning of the Peace. Unfortunately, that time has come and gone. The War that needs never to have been fought has now a life of its own and continues to grind along with no successful outcome in sight. There is no “good” plan, no “good” choice for end of the War in Iraq. We can’t leave and we can’t stay. By staying in Iraq, we’re there to help resolve the problem of the insurgency, while we’re also part of the problem causing the insurgency. Can we pull out as we did in Viet Nam? This is not Viet Nam! It may look like it, but we left Viet Nam without catastrophic consequences. Viet Nam fell into the sphere of influence of both Communist Russia and China, which was probably where it belonged in the first place. Iraq is a whole other story. If we stay, the bloodshed of American soldiers and Iraqi civilians continues without any end in sight, with the US caught in the middle of an age old religious war and allowing Al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations to expand their influence. If we leave, we may case the escalation of the Civil War and possibly open the Middle East to a possible major conflagration that could expand with the inclusion of Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, thus shutting down the flow of oil to a trickle out of the Persian Gulf, as well as opening the gates to allow Jhadist Fundamental Islam….let’s cut the crap and stop calling it “Terrorism” and truly identify it for what it is…..to create more instability to the Middle East. There is no “good” solution to the war in Iraq. We are left to decide which decision will impact the world we live in the least, and I don’t have an answer for that and neither do any of the candidates. We are faced with a real life example of “Catch-22!”