With very few exceptions, it appears the U.S. political class is opting for a strategy of blaming Iraqis for the mess we’ve gotten them into. The administration has been taking this line for some time, but now we find the Democrats — as they inch closer to the levers of power — 
making the same kinds of noises. It’s what they consider political expedience, as the conventional wisdom suggests that no one in America wants to take responsibility for this “catastrofuck”, as Jon Stewart calls it; that defeat is always an orphan; that no politician can succeed by being the bearer of bad news, even if it is the truth. Now that Iraqis are dying in the hundreds of thousands, our “leaders” are encouraging us to weasel our way out of our obligations as an occupying power and a nation that has committed an extremely grave breach of international law. This phenomenon includes people like Democratic presidential hopeful Tom Vilsack, who speaks of breaking the Iraqi’s “culture of dependency” on American power, applying the language of self-help to a major conflagration for which we are primarily responsible. (What… is this some kind of co-dependent abusive relationship?)
Then there’s the top leadership of the Dems, like “give ’em hell” Harry Reid, who seems to have signed onto the president’s turkey of a plan to send more troops in a final “surge” to victory. I mean, what the fuck — are these people mental or something? What, do we have to remind them every day of the week that we want out of this bloody war? My new congressman-elect Michael Arcuri says that he is against the surge option, but I have no doubt that we will need to keep the pressure on these people in order to see the kind of result we pulled the lever, punched the card, or touched the touch-screen for this past November. No, friends, denial is not just a river in Egypt — it runs through the heart of Washington D.C., too, and the desire is great amongst those living along its banks to be on the “winning” side.
Evidently, there’s still plenty of neocon Kool-Aid to go around in our nation’s capital. Dubya himself is getting, if anything, more bizarre than ever in his various public appearances, this week lurching from the possibility of defeat to the certainty of victory. Dick Cheney described his former mentor Rumsfeld as the finest secretary of defense America has ever had — a comment even Bill Kristol thought was over the top (and he’s obviously out of his mind to the point where he apparently thinks this is the only time Cheney’s been wrong about anything). Meanwhile, over on PBS, Condi “supertanker” Rice was talking about how Syria could stop destabilizing Iraq anytime they want by simply not allowing weapons and fighters to enter via their border. I mean, that just has to be destined for some kind of world-class irony award. What a bunch of freaks! How could even our own flabbergastingly credulous media take anything they say at face value? Even so, I think the handwriting is finally on the wall for this war, as a substantial portion of the permanent establishment is slowly beginning to catch up with the super-majority of Americans that thinks this is a hopeless mess.
Sadly, I think once that “handwriting” fully appears, it’s going to read something like “it’s their fault, let them fix it.” We can — and must — do better than that.
luv u,
jp
