W.'s Head in the Sand

By Maureen Dowd

The Bush warriors are so deluded, they're even faking their fakery.

The National Strategy for Victory must have come from the same P.R. genius who gave President Top Gun the "Mission Accomplished" banner about 48 hours before the first counterinsurgency war of the 21st century broke out in Iraq.

See Fixer's post.

You have to admire Scott McClellan, the president's spokesman. He kept a straight face when he called the US "a leader when it comes to promoting and advocating a free and independent media around the world." He added, "We've made our views very clear when it comes to freedom of the press."

Exceedingly clear. The Bushies don't believe in it. They disdain the whole democratic system of checks and balances.

At the Naval Academy, President Bush talked about how well the Iraqi security forces were fighting. He claimed that 40 Iraqi battalions were taking the lead in the fight against insurgents, and that in the battle of Tal Afar this year, "the assault was primarily led by Iraqi security forces - 11 Iraqi battalions backed by 5 coalition battalions providing support."

Anderson Cooper of CNN swiftly produced Time's Baghdad bureau chief, Michael Ware, who was embedded with the US military during the entire Tal Afar battle. "With the greatest respect to the president, that's completely wrong," Mr. Ware said, adding: "I was with Iraqi units right there on the front line as they were battling with al Qaeda. They were not leading."

He also told Mr. Cooper: "I have had a very senior officer here in Baghdad say to me that there's never going to be a point where these guys will be able to stand up against the insurgency on their own."

Mr. Ware recalled that in a battle two weeks ago, he saw an Iraqi security officer put down his weapon and curl up into a ball when he was under attack. "I have seen that on - on many, many occasions," he said.

Curling up in a ball. Good National Strategy for Victory

I musta missed that "curling up in a ball" shit in my infantry training. They taught us to keep our heads down and try not to get hurt, but to keep the rifle's muzzle pointed at the enemy, and that's hard to do from the fetal position. Maybe it's something new.

As my memory kicks in a little, we actually were taught how to "curl up in a ball" with our backs to the enemy in one particular situation: when you have to use a hand grenade at short range, like twenty feet.

We also believed in ourselves, our buddies, and -believe it or not- our country. If not for those things, curling up in a ball is probably a good tactic to avoid dying for something you don't believe in.

We need to get the fuck out of Iraq and let the Iraqis decide for themselves what to believe in or not, and what they themselves feel is worth fighting, and dying, for. I think a forced democracy probably ain't it.