Bryan D. Brown

I passively watched the President’s speech last night, mostly while surfing the net, until he said something that really got my attention - “Where mistakes have been made…”. Wait… was he just channeling the late Ronald Reagan? I’m not being entirely fair - Bush’s actual quote last night was “Where mistakes have been made, the responsibility rests with me.” Reagan, the Great Communicator, would have phrased that sentence, “Where mistakes have been made, I don’t recall.”

I feel sorry for the word surge for how it’s being used in all of this. Surge is normally used in more positive ways. Stock prices, ocean waves, even a really terrible soda - things that bring a sense of goodness to people. After conducting a Google News search for the word surge, I think its reputation is forever tarnished by its association with this war - much like Kool-Aid is forever tarnished by Jim Jones. By the way, nice work, Flavor-Aid.

Am I being pessimistic? Well, yesterday morning, CNN interviewed members of two conservative think-tanks (link to transcript): James Dobbins, who is with the Rand Corporation, and Larry Diamond with the Hoover Institution. Here’s my favorite part of the exchange:

DIAMOND: Well, there are not nearly enough troops of any kind. This should have been done three years ago and on a larger scale. But if it’s only American troops knocking down doors, there’s going to be blowback, Heidi, and it’s going to embitter Iraqis more, escalate the fighting and killing on all sides. So, there needs to be an incentive for Iraqis to step forward and take responsibility for their own affair.

Otherwise, we’re not going to get to this goal in November just as we didn’t get to the goal General Casey had declared some time ago of having most of the responsibility assumed by this very moment.

And I just don’t see where the leverage is of the Bush Administration when it puts in all these resources in advance without the political compromises coming.

COLLINS: James Dobbins, is November a realistic goal?

DOBBINS: Probably not. Most of the administration’s goals have not been met over the last three years, so I wouldn’t anticipate that this one will either.

Maybe these two are dumbing down for CNN’s audience, but in my view, there’s a whole lotta, “Well, DUH!” going on there. Blowback? Realistic goals? Wasn’t that why people were protesting this war before it even started? Watching conservatives criticize this war is like watching a two year old attempting to spell quagmire. They don’t know how to do it, so they end up playing Monday morning quarterback. How about this? This is the wrong war, at the wrong time, for the wrong reasons. Period. And plenty of people shouted that in the streets before this mess even started.

Is it possible that sending more troops will only amount to creating more memorials for Arlington West to set up every Sunday? I’d mention the Iraqi civilians who we have liberated, not just from Hussein’s regime, but from life altogether - but were not supposed to talk about them.

You know, sometimes this blog is nothing more than I cathartic way for me to shout into the proverbial pillow, but hey, I’ll take the little things.