Friday, May 18, 2007

Bright shiny objects

George Tenant’s book came out a few weeks ago. George W Bush’s freshly minted war czar is still in his first news cycle. What do these events have in common? They feature men will do anything if rewarded with bright shiny objects.

George Tenant was given a bight shiny Medal of Freedom for his slam dunk on Iraq WMD intelligence. Of course he never did say “slam dunk.” Or maybe he did but in a different context. Or maybe it was the tooth fairy. He did manage to sit by stonily while Colin Powell spun the tissue of lies and idiocy that was our case in the UN. A weaker man would have rolled his eyes or a least put his head in his hands when Colin broadcast some of the whoppers provided by “curve ball” and the other so called sources. A stronger man would have killed the Niger yellow cake story before it could have done any damage. Tenant was an enabler. If he had put his foot down by resigning in protest , we might not be fighting in Iraq right now. Tennant enabled the WIG faction to peddle it’s rancid wares to the US electorate and to the world. Tenant and Powell had the stature to change the administration’s course. Both provided establishment credibility and gravitas to the crazed NeoCon paranoia emanating from the VP’s office. For his troubles Tenant got a big book deal and nice shiny Medal Of Freedom. In a way the book is just another bright shiny object, it’s a stiletto aimed at the VP and others.

The other ferret in our story is the new war czar. The shiny object the czar desires? A nice fourth star is what his heart disires. It speaks volumes that Bush had to drop down to the three star level to find his man. Not that General Lute isn’t a stand-out guy, he somehow managed to climb the military ranking structure to a fairly lofty perch. However, this guy is a careerist and he wants to climb higher. Is there any doubt that Bush or one of his minions offered that fourth star to get Lt. General Lute on board? Why else would anyone other than a base fool climb aboard the sinking ship that is Bush’s Iraq effort? Why else would anyone other than a base fool run toward the spewing lava coming from the volcano?

General Lute, and yes dear reader he will make full general, is many things but he is not a base fool. He knows that the Iraq surge has a excellent chance of failing. He knows or better know who will be tossed under the bus when the Surge does fail. Again he is no base fool, what kind of fool he is remains to be seen. Probably he is the type of fool that is easily distracted by bright shiny objects

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