Baker To Bush: Game Over

[jaysunb]

~ snip ~
It is, however, too late to stop the bleeding in Iraq. Six hundred thousand dead Iraqis later, the United States will depart from Iraq leaving behind a nation whose citizens will be struggling to rebuild their society for decades. The U.S. invasion of Iraq is a war crime of the first magnitude, an illegal war that destroyed a nation that had never attacked the United States, that did not have any weapons of mass destruction, that did not have any ties to al-Qaida, that had no connection to the September 11 attacks, and which—at the start of the war—was a small, impoverished country with a decimated army. The civil war in Iraq may indeed get worse, and it may last for years. Each and every one of those deaths will be on George W. Bush’s conscience—if, in fact, the Bible-thumping hypocrite has any conscience left.


http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2006/11/30/baker_to_bush_game_over.php

[mediaman007]

1. Let me be among the first to nominate this indictment!

[Bitwit1234]

2. Why !!!!!!!

The bush administration has had this committee looking into all the options in Iraq. The committee says get OUT. Mostly every one of the military in charge say get OUT. The US says get OUT (per the last election). The whole world says get OUT.

Why why why does the imperial dictator insist we stay in Iraq. He and his chosen few insulating him, are the only ones who want to stay. In fact in another of his famous "lies" when bush gave his speech in Latavia, or where ever he was, he said THE AMERICAN PEOPLE HAVE SPOKEN THEY WANT TO STAY IN IRAQ. Where is his foolish coming from? He says he talks to God. I think he has God mixed up with the other guy....Satan.

[jaysunb]

5. People claiming to talk to God or any other

invisible entity is not mentally stable. Bet on it !

[vssmith]

15. It isn't people who say they talk to God that scare me,

its people who say God is talking to them

[DaveT]

34. That god he's talking to is

the Vice Presidet who is still representing Halliburton.

He never expected to stay in power past 2008. His assignment from his sponsors was to stir up the maximum possible wartime cash flow for as long as possible.

This was never an exercise in "foreign policy." It was a gouge. The neocon "intellectuals" who are now blowing razzberries at Bush were nothing but dupes -- hired mouthpieces who put up a "policy" front for the same kind of gouge that Boss Tweed, Schulyer Colfax and Albert Fall had previously arranged in earlier eras.

The only difference is the unprecedented magnitude of the gouge. The biggest single tell in the long list of painful anomolies in this War on Terror was the bizarre privatization of so many normal military functions -- this is the first war in history to have been catered, for example.

Bush's poll numbers can fall to single digits and the Congress can impeach and convict both Bush and Cheney -- but every day they remain in power is another day to put more backsheesh into the pipeline to Halliburtion, Bechtel and the other sponsors of Cheney and the Bush Family.

I wish this story were more complicated than this. And few even on the left really believe it to be literally the whole story.

But I have not seen any other persuasive explanation of this debacle. And it is not unprecedented. In the 19th century, the railroad barons bought the Federal and most State governments with the result being the great "right of way" gouge and the extermination of the native population to protect the investment. "Draining the Swamp of the Middle East" was nothing more than an extension of "Manifest Destiny."

I doubt that our culture will ever absorb the bitter truth about these thieves, just as the story of Nixon faded toward the "tragic, flawed man of near greatness" that persists today. Nevertheless, progressives should not blink when looking at the depravity of people who would start a war to make a buck.

[Dhalgren]

3. Unfortunately, it isn't just on George Bush's conscience. Every

American shares, in one degree or another, the blame for this wanton butchery. This is OUR legacy...

[Patchuli]

8. I refuse to accept that.

I stood against the war from the start. It is NOT *my* legacy, it is the republican legacy. They bought it and they own it. I am grateful that the rest of the world understands that too.

[jaysunb]

9. Agreed !

And so did 56% of the American public.

[Patchuli]

12. We were not responsible for Viet Nam either!

Why should we feel that we are to blame?! I'm sure all 56% (is that all?!) of U.S. would have stopped * from attacking Iraq if we had the power to do so. This will indeed be the repub party's legacy and they own it. Even the Iranian president knows that!

[PurpleChez]

32. Agreed agreed

This is on Bush, this is on his enablers in Congress (of both parties), and this is on the numbnuts citizens who treated * like he was an incarnation of Christ and treated him as if he could do no wrong and must be obeyed as such. Which group does not include me.

[L0oniX]

4. December`10 ...Impeachment Day

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/december10

[spillthebeans]

6. They are using Bush as a scapegoat

Bible and Bush, how funny is that?


http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1948713,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=12


The Baker report will be a set of ideas, more realistic than in the past, that can be used as political tools. What they're going to say is: lower the goals, forget about the democracy crap, put more resources in, do it."

[donkeyotay]

19. So, more money, more troops. More of the same, except maybe some talks.

if he can find anyone to talk to.

"You've got to remember, whatever the Democrats say, it's Bush still calling the shots. He believes it's a matter of political will. That's what Kissinger told him. And he's going to stick with it," a former senior administration official said. "He is in a state of denial about Iraq. Nobody else is any more. But he is. But he knows he's got less than a year, maybe six months, to make it work. If it fails, I expect the withdrawal process to begin next fall."

[davidwparker]

7. Baker to Bush: Go to your room!

[Hepburn]

10. My pleasure to be the 14th K&R on this!

Excellent. Sums it up exactly, IMO. Bush is a war criminal. No ands, ifs or buts. There is NO doubt in my mind that he knew going on that he was telling lies. If this is not a war based on lies, then someone please explain what legitimate purpose there was to the OSP?

JMHO

[maxsolomon]

11. bush never had a conscience

which is why he was the perfect candidate for the neocons.

and he will go to his grave in a warm blanket of narcissistic self regard & think tank hosannas.

[jaysunb]

14. He kinda reminds me of the Manchurian Candidate

Simply a " useful tool. " and BTW I think his Daddy is in on the game to use him as well.

[ArmchairMeme]

13. God told him to .......

What is that remedy for our country when the leader is no longer living in reality?

How much longer do we have to wait to save our country from a person who appears to be unstable and unable to hear reasonable suggestions and unable to change or compromise on anything. He is still promoting "staying the course" even though he may be using different words. He appears to be incapable of improvement.

[civildisoBDence]

16. Life would be so easy without a conscience or a clue,

especially in this society in this time.

DUUUUUHbya is fortunate to have neither--if he had both, he'd have no choice but to kill himself.

Newsprism

[depakid]

17. if, in fact, the Bible-thumping hypocrite has any conscience left.

That assumes that the man ever had a conscience. I've never seen any evidence of one.

[jillan]

18. I don't know if I want to scream or cry

Scream at the top of my lungs for what this administration has done.

or cry for the 100's of thousands that are dead, and the chaos that the Iraqi citizens are forced to live in all
because of our pResident.

[The Backlash Cometh]

20. 600,000 dead Iraqis? Did I hear that right?

And I bet half of them were on our side before this whole mess began.

[MasonJar]

21. At least McCain's assinine stand to send more troops should

hurt his campaign. He's too old anyway. Remember to tell everyone you know.

[raysr]

22. Every fuck-face at Freerepublick

needs to forced to read that piece, or write on a black board until he understands it!

[jaysunb]

25. That's assuming they can write.....

:rofl:

[Jackpine Radical]

27. It's not the borderline retardation that makes them so problematic...

It's the raging personality disorders.

[jazzjunkysue]

23. Uber-K & Uber R! n/t.

[some guy]

24. somewhat hopeful...

I guess we'll se what the ISG really intends when they actually release their report and recommendations.

I don't see a lot of reason to cheer though, beyond the fact that withdrawal (total and complete) would be good for the US military forces and their families.

Still a huge stinking mess, and innumerable possibilities for carnage :cry:

" Meanwhile, the ISG—in fact, a thousand ISGs—can’t guarantee that the repercussions of the U.S. occupation of Iraq don’t spiral out of control. The civil war in Iraq could wind down, with the help of massive outside diplomatic help and the constructive involvement of Iraq’s six neighbors—or it could escalate, leaving another million or more Iraqis dead. And in so doing, it could pull in Iran, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and others, sparking a bloody regional conflagration. No one knows. The ISG doesn’t know. There are measures that can be taken to lessen the chances of the worst-case scenario unfolding. Such measures cannot be left to the United States. Like it or not, Iraq is now a basket case, and the world community—the United Nations, the Arab League, Iraq’s neighbors, the Organization of the Islamic Conference and powers like China and Japan—will need to step in. Kofi Annan, the U.N. secretary-general, has already offered to host a national reconciliation conference for Iraq’s warring sects and ethnic groups. A hundred other initiatives such as that will be needed. Pray it isn’t too late. "

[Martin Eden]

26. "Republicans, eager to get Iraq off the table before the 2008 elections"

I have news for Republicans, Democrats, and anybody else who thinks Iraq will be "off the table" after our military is withdrawn: the catastrophe that is Iraq will be ON the "table" and in the headlines long after the next president takes office.

First of all, bringing our troops home will not be a complete withdrawal of our military. At the very least, there will be a formidable presence in the Green Zone. It will be interesting to see if we can stay out of the fighting, if it that presence can be maintained, and whether there will ultimately be a rooftop helicopter moment like in 1975 Saigon.

Secondly, the lid pried off Pandora's box by the chimperor will not be closing anytime soon. The Middle East -- and Iraq in particular -- will likely be in worse turmoil than ever. Whoever runs for president and gains that offiice will have a host of foreign policy problems that cannot be ignored.

The hardest pill to swallow, as Plaid Adder so eloquently explained, will be the realization that WE DO NOT CONTROL THE OUTCOME. I'm not just referring to what happens in Iraq. I'm talking about the impotence of American power painfully on display on the world stage. We have been top dogs for so long that our national psyche will have difficulty coping with such a badly bruised ego. How the public, the punditocracy, and the political establishment will react makes me nervous.

As many have pointed out, Iran is the big winner at our expense. If Israel feels more embattled than it already is and they or we attempt to take out Iran's nuclear installations with preemptive strikes no one will be able to find the lid, let alone put it back on Pandora's box. Wherever it is, chimpy's fingerprints are all over it.

[jaysunb]

29. Major league analysis Martin !

:thumbsup:

We have been top dogs for so long that our national psyche will have difficulty coping with such a badly bruised ego. How the public, the punditocracy, and the political establishment will react makes me nervous.


Chilling.......considering the ease of which a large segment of the American public is so easily led.

[Maraya1969]

31. Personally I think it would be a good thing to get some people off their

high horse of "America superiority". It is a lie anyway. We have horrible education, horrible infant mortality rates and other horrible things (that I can't remember) that the ones with the bumper stickers saying: "These colors don't run" or "Freedom isn't free", need to realize. They need a good waking up. Stomping along saying American is the greatest country without looking at the facts is a sort of sick denial. It is what causes people in other countries to hate us and consider us snobs. Most of us are not Americana snobs but the ones that are yell so loud they drown out the rest of us.

[ooglymoogly]

36. to say nothing of being at the top of the list with one of the highest prison

populations in the world, where southern pug senators and all pug senators keep bogus drug laws on the books that target mainly blacks and hispanics many of them for being caught smoking marijuana a harmless substance that threatens big pharma, big liquor and tobacco which in turn allow jackbooted black shirts to break down doors and shoot first killing old Ladies children and whoever comes within the sites of their formidable weapons. because of the hopeless and stupid war on drugs we are fast becoming a police state

[Danger Mouse]

28. Conscience??

He never had one to begin with. There was a Doonesbury cartoon not to long ago, where one of the characters is wondering whether Bush feels any remorse for all the death caused by the Iraq war. It cuts to the White House, where a sleepless Bush is telling his wife 'Laura, the stem cells - I hear their cries.'
Pretty much sums it up. He cares more for those little stem cells than our troops, Iraqi men women and children, and the American people.
He's a sick, depraved man, and easily the worst president in American history.

[BigBearJohn]

30. and we have to even THINK about whether he should be impeached???

[Felinity]

33. No

We have to think about how we can get both he and Cheney out of there at the same time, before the Rethugs convince one of them to resign and make (chicken-shit neo-rationalist)John McCain VP.


Fabulous article by the way.

[Sequoia]

35. Seems to me:

Chimp wanted to cause the world stife and heartache, not the other way 'round. Evil people are remembered more than good people and since he plans to flee to the land of Josef Mengele he can kill all he wants and not be held accountable. I think Argentina should forbid him to buy even an acre there.