After a 4+ mile springtime 84 degree run (3 circles around the dam), the only thing that sweats is my hat.

America is in danger of losing the war in Iraq.  And I believe the turning point in the fight for Iraq might be seen by future generations not to consist of a single decisive battle, or even of the collective outcome of all military operations together.  Rather, the decisive moment is about to become the outrage and public fallout over a single scandal: the American-run death and sexual-torture camps at Abu Ghuraib.

 

outraged Arabs may now well have their own engram-burning image of a "christ" being crucified

 

more than a waste of good panties

 

she walks him. but does she feed him and take him to the vets?

 

Bush and Rumsfeld: what fuck-ups.  Especially Rumsfeld.  As Secretary of Defense, he’s ultimately responsible for not putting an end to the killing, sexual humiliation, and other acts of indecency and inhumanity the American guards and intelligence officers were perpetuating. 

 

“What?”, some will argue, “He didn’t know.  It’s not fair to blame him if he didn’t know.”

 

Well, the Red Cross knew and had registered their complaints loud enough and long enough so that he should have known.  And if he did, but ignored them, then he’s an accomplice.  And if he wasn’t aware because the chain of command floundered, then as the ultimate overseer he’s totally incompetent and needs to be fired—today.

 

But that’s only a start.  Bush is going to have to make a huge public apology (and not merely express his own disbelief) and relinquish a lot more American authority for the oversight of the Iraqi transitional government to a broader multination-based United Nations coalition, if the loss of Iraq to the forces of terror and dissolution is to be avoided.

 

Make no mistake about these trends:

 

1)      We are losing the hearts of the Iraqi public more so day by day.

2)      The terrorist and resistance support base is growing in Iraq, more so day by day.

3)      We are losing the respect of more of the people and nations of the world, even becoming hated where we weren’t so previously, more so day by day.

4)      The American public itself is losing confidence in Bush’s management of this fiasco, more so day by day.

 

If this war is to be won, the course of it must change quickly and dramatically—off the battlefield.

 

Both for reasons of organizational culpability and as a signal to the world of a break from a faltering strategy, Bush MUST fire Rumsfeld. 

 

And if he doesn’t, if he decides to "stand by his man", Bush, too, with our last chance for victory, will disappear into the slurp of this quicksand scandal quagmire along with his anything-goes, shoot-from-the-hip S.O.D. (Suck of Defense).