Saturday, June 16, 2007

Smothers Brothers Diplomacy

Harper's

Meanwhile, there's a rumor circulating in Baghdad and in some Washington circles that the CIA, in order to help the Bush Administration find a face-saving way to get out, is bribing Iraqi parliamentarians to vote for an end to the American troop presence. I have absolutely no reason to believe this is anything more than a rumor, but the very fact that it is being discussed indicates just how desperate the military (and political) situation is in Iraq.

I think that's a smokin' good idea, which means it probably ain't happening.

And we can't leave without the oil, anyway. Bush's masters have spoken.

Back in the early-1970s, when the war in Vietnam was hopelessly bogged down, Tommy and Dickey Smothers proposed during their Comedy Hour that the United States simply declare that it had won and pull out. It may come to pass that the Bush Administration turns to Smother Brothers diplomacy as a way to get out of Iraq.

That was a great show. I remember once when they were talking about the benefits of using condoms, unheard of on TV in those days, and Tommy said in his deadpan way that he was wearing one right then and there and holding it on with duct tape.

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