Testing the Waters of Reality

Two things strike me today:

The first is that this is the day General Petraeus (damn, that sounds like a Roman name, it should be "Marcus' Petraeus of the XIIth Legion) regurgitates the same old baloney.

The second is we learn that Cheney will receive Secret Service protection for long after he is out of office because "we are at WAR!"

Petraeus's assessment of Iraq is entirely self centered. It is as if the Iraqi people did not exist. The resemblence of the situation to King George supporting a Tory government in the colonies of America is remarkable (remember, King George was mad.) To say that Iraq is approaching stability when it is spiraling into total chaos is, in itself, the statement of a mad man.

Consider the statement that "We are at War." Exactly the opposite is reality. We are engaged in trying to effect political change in Afghanistan and Iraq by the use of force. Yes, there is armed conflict. But, there is no armies on the other side. In fact, by saying that the Taliban are "unlawful combatants" and denying them coverage by the Geneva Convention, we have esentially stated that this is not "War." Police action, maybe. So, Cheney gets extraordinary protection in America because we are involved in a police action. If I were he, I would be more worried about travelling to a European country that might arrest him for war crimes.