Monday August 14, 2006

How can Bush seriously say with a straight face that Israel defeated Hezbollah? Easy: he drew up the plan for Israel in the war that is very temporarily over as a dry run for future military action against Iran. Today, we also hear the prez say that perhaps the world’s first president-blogger and his ayatollah friends are destabilizing the shiny glittering democracies in Iraq and Lebanon. And, well, given that these are his two test cases of the new Middle East, I can see why he’s rather pissed.

“It’s no coincidence that two nations that are building free societies in the heart of the Middle East — Lebanon and Iraq — are also the scenes of the most violent terrorist activity,” Bush said. It might have something to do with both of them getting blown up. If you thought Hezbollah was a pain in the ass before, they are now playing with house money: they faced down Israel and lived to tell the tale. Look out.

The bigger problem, perhaps, is that Bush is playing with house money as well. Iraq is now a basketcase for the foreseeable future no matter what happens. His poll ratings can’t get much worse. Republicans are probably losing control of the House of Representatives this fall — and perhaps the Senate as well. None of his domestic policies will get any traction as long as he is in the White House. So what does GWB have to lose?

Nothing. Picture the heat of the 2008 presidential campaign. Whomever the donkeys come up with (my guess is John Edwards) is up ten points on someone who more or less shares Bush’s foreign policy vision (McCain, Giuliani, or Condi) coming into the week of the Democratic National Convention. Iran is still building nukes. Syria’s started supplying Hezbollah again and the rockets are flying into Israel. Iraq is even more of a basketcase than it is now …

You don’t think Bush and the neocons wouldn’t pull the trigger?

You don’t think they’d make up a pretext for starting WWIII?

You don’t think they’d drop nukes on Iranian military facilities?

Just consider the ramifications — and consider your president.