Petareus/Betrayus.

Man, did Moveon.org jump into the fray or not?

Not really. Not unless you are a true believer. The presentation was orchestrated as expected. What is really ... not..funny is how predictable the whole show was.

As research clearly shows, the military academies are predominantly Republican in their political affiliations (just google the air force academy and fundamental christianity). And, the research also shows that moving up the ranks in the military correlates quite consistently with conservative personality orientations.

So, what is the big deal here?

All this is not really new. The research on conservative-liberal psychology shows consistently that the conservatives--for all their desire to merge with God--fear death. Should irony be so hard to understand? That which you want most in your unconscious becomes the reality of your consciousness? Heraclitus wrote as much during the ego's first awareness. Jung co-opted this insight into a psychology.

But, such observations are mere ephemeral correlates of the realities...as our former Fed. chairman has acknowledged. Oil is life.

It will take a while for this reality to seep into the consciousness of our society. Let us hope (hope? such an abstraction!). Oil is blood. In modernity. Christ, of course, was not a petroleum engineer.

Over the past few weeks the Bush Administration has mounted a publicity surge to tout the success of the President's policy of a military surge in Iraq. The exemplary dynamics offered as proof of the success of this military surge are the events that have occurred in Al Anbar, the site of President Bush's recent visit to Iraq. And, indeed, something encouraging has happened in Anbar, the former home of the Sunni insurgency.

What has happened? In the spring and summer of 2006 various Sunni tribes began forming an alliance called Sahawah Al Anbar, or Anbar Awakening. This coalition of some 30 Sunni tribes has over the past year worked with U.S. forces to fight the Al Qaeda in Iraq (AIQ) extremists.

Why did this happen? Quite simply, the moderate Sunnis in Anbar were forced to protect themselves against the murderous activities of AIQ. Having experienced the Taliban-like viciousness of AIQ, the Sunni tribal leaders decided that AIQ was to be more despised than the U.S. military. And, thus, "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" became the operational policy. The former insurgents are now allies. (Talk about amnesty!)

How should these events be interpreted? The Bush Administration, understandably, has held up the Anbar events as a success of the U.S. military surge. The limitation of this argument, of course, is that the dynamics in Anbar were initiated by the Sunnis before the U.S. military surge even started. My opinion is that AIQ--by just acting out their totalitarian nature--precipitated these reactionary events. This is not to say the the support that the U.S. military has offered has not been of help.

Rather, I am concerned that the events in Anbar have been co-opted by the Bush Administration and used as not only a justification for the war but as a justification for continuing the Administration's current policies. And, given President Bush's Thursday night speech to the nation, he envisions these policies as continuing for many years.

Such "political spin" also seems evident throughout the Administration's presentation of the alleged decline in violence in Baghdad. Seldom is it mentioned that Baghdad has become a ghettoized city where Sunnis and Shiites have been so displaced into fortified ethnic enclaves that it has become much more difficult to fight each other. Add to this consideration the fact that an estimated four million Iraqis now form an Iraqi diaspora , and we must recognize that it is more difficult to enact a civil war if there if no one around to participate. And, of course, the untold thousands of dead Iraqis can not be blamed.

Honestly, I can't blame George Bush--the politician--for trying to find something positive to talk about in the midst of this tragic endeavor. But, I do wonder about George Bush--the man--and his oft reported concern about his presidential legacy. As a man who has stated that the key power in his life is God, what does he think God will make of all this? And, what does his party think?

What will the General tell us? Petraeus? The name is postively Greek. And so fitting, are we not in deep deep into the most Greek tragedy? Millions of Iraqi's displaced, dead and dismayed.


But, General P. will tell us...stay the course....in the older G.W.'s world it would be "a thousand points of light.' In the youger world of G.W. it will be "another thousand dead."

Do we not live in interesting times? While we are engaged in the depths of war, why don't we kill another couple of million people? We can do it easily....look out at the future of death, Iran. America is coming. We have the power. Do not fuck with us.


Or, pay the consequences.


We will not be jerked around by terror.


We have the capabilty to inflict terror on a much grander scale that you know.