With the George W. Bush administration moving closer to finishing its reign, there has been one consistent way to look at its actions and deeds, and that is to search for the covert lie embedded within its pronounced public policy. "Yes means no, and no means yes", has always been the approach to selling its toxic right wing agenda. A track record that has ruined the reputation of our country around the world. No one trusts us anymore, nor should they, having experienced as we all have, leadership by the most arrogant, flawed, and disingenuous group of human beings to ever hold high office in the United States of America. Nothing uttered by the Bush administration should be taken at face value and this is especially true when it comes to the war in Iraq and the current strategy, "the surge".
I started to think about the surge and the upbeat numbers that keep streaming out as a result of its implementation. Where is the lie? First I began with the term "the surge" and wondered whether it might be a term much like the "Clear Skies Initiative". The "Clear Skies Initiative" is the Bush administrations moniker given to a policy, that, while sounding like a giant leap forward, actually causes more air pollution, and weakens and delays the enforcement of laws already in place. In other words it is propaganda, a lie. So what about the surge? What if the surge was actually retreat and disengagement dressed up to look and sound like a proactive military ramp up. The lie used to start doing what democrats and peace activists have been calling for since the beginning of the war, a draw down and redeployment of troops. A propaganda ploy to run out the clock and give the appearance of success in Iraq through what sounds like increased boots on the ground, but what really is a removal of the heavy overbearing precence of American troops. The surge, in the "yes means no, and no means yes" world of the Bushies, is actually a drastic reduction of speeding humvees, and troops kicking down doors. Perhaps American troop deaths are down because they are no longer the active and constant targets of a stifling
occupying machine. If you ain't driving around 24-7 its much harder to blow you up. The US footprint is no longer a boot but a ballet slipper dancing its way out of Iraq. If true, it is a pirouette in the right direction, the problem of course, is that George Bush will white wash the facts and claim that success was achieved by his actions rather than a retreat from his failures. The surge could very well be the smoke screen that allows, not space for political progress within Iraq, but rather breathing room for a flawed human being in Washington to cut and run off to Crawford Texas.
And what of the civil war? Perhaps most of the strife between the sects was a result of the pressures of an occupying army. "I blame you my Sunni friend for the American infidels living umongst us....take that." With the surge withdrawing American troops from constant visibility it may have helped to quell the civilian violence. This of course runs contrary to what the Bush adminstration says would occur if we redeployed our troops to the real fight against terrorism; Afghanistan. They predicted an intolerable "blood bath" would result, which seems, in light of the current levels of civil unrest, just another fear tactic to keep troops in country long enough for a false legacy of victory to be fashioned and concocted.
This is all speculation on my part of course. I am just a citizen who believes that George W. Bush is the worst president in American history. He has made the world a much more dangerous place, not just through the war he started, but by creating an environment of mistrust and deception making it is impossible to find common ground on any issue. How can any discussion begin with this president when the parties involved must first decipher the lies before getting to the facts? To me the surge is nothing more than an attempt to fudge the numbers so that George W. Bush can claim he succeeded in Iraq. Nothing more than laying the ground work for assigning blame somewhere other than his own shoulders. A glimpse into the heart and mind of a man who believes he is never wrong and has made no mistakes. Once George W. Bush leaves office this will be the mission, to lie about his deeds in order to rebrand his administration as something noble. I predict his presidential library will be a temple to misinformation, a bastion of propaganda, and the surge will be front and center in defining the Iraq War as a success. One only needs to look at the name being suggested to shape the library to know what kind of place it will be, and that name is Karl Rove.