alternative hippopotamus

progressive cyberdadaism from our nation’s capital

January 2, 2007

Surge and Accelerate

by AltHippo @ 11:03 pm. Filed under Uncategorized

On Tuesday afternoon the BBC reported that Bush would be revealing a new strategy in Iraq within days.

According to a senior administration source a speech to the country discussing the strategy would occur in the middle of next week:

“Its central theme will be sacrifice.”

Details are light concerning what will be sacrificed, who will do the sacrificing, and to what end.

According to a NYT article, “Chaos Overran Iraq Plan in ’06, Bush Team Says,” that end is victory:

Mr. Bush still insists on talking about victory, even if his own advisers differ about how to define it. “It’s a word the American people understand,” he told members of the Iraq Study Group who came to see him at the White House in November, according to two commission members who attended. “And if I start to change it, it will look like I’m beginning to change my policy.”

From these two articles we gather that Bush will be describing a new strategy, but not a change in policy. We also gather that the American people understand the word “victory.” Presumably, they also understand the word “sacrifice” in that is the central theme of the new strategy.

In the week the troop death toll exceeded 3000, I grant that the American people indeed understand the meaning of the word “sacrifice.” Does Bush?

One could argue that Bush sacrificed majorities in the House and Senate in the 2006 election for the cause of “victory” in Iraq, but surely that is an overly simplistic reading. Sources indicate that up through the evening of electoral returns, he was convinced that his party was winning.

So we must look elsewhere for what sacrifice means to the Bush household.

In a 2005 Washington Post article, Terry Neal asked the White House if Bush had urged his children, nieces, or nephews, eight of which were of enlistment age to join the fight in Iraq.

Here’s the official reponse:

There are many ways for people to serve their country and to help make the world a better freer and more peaceful place. The president is grateful to all of those who have answered the call to service whether it’s in the military or in another capacity and members of his family have done both.

While it’s certainly admirable that Bush’s daughters gave some of their time to teaching in inner city DC, and AIDS promotion in Africa, that’s hardly the same thing as putting one’s life on the line. For a cause that one must assume he believes in to the core of his being. How else could he ask the rest of us to sacrifice?

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