Pres. Bush: Still Living in a Paper Doll World

Pres. Bush informed the American people today that leaving Iraq would be a "disaster," and that the United States would "lose its soul" if we left:

President Bush said Monday the United States would lose "our soul as a nation" if it gave up on the Iraq war now, warning it would be a "disaster" if U.S. troops left before the new Iraqi government can control the country.

"We're not leaving so long as I'm president," an animated Bush said in a wide-ranging White House press conference. "That would be a huge mistake." He conceded, though, that the war was "straining the psyche of our country" with U.S. deaths now standing at more than 2,600.

I guess 2,600 dead Americans, 3,400 Iraqis killed in one month, and well over 40,000 killed since March 2003 is not disaster enough for Bush. Apparently, Iraq's steady descent into a hellish civil war that is only getting worse is the proof Bush needs that without U.S. troops, the Iraqi government could not "control the country." Because obviously U.S. troops are helping Iraq to control the country now.

The problem here (one of many) is that Bush is still thinking in terms of there being a country called Iraq that can be controlled. There is no Iraq anymore. Iraq has broken up. Iraq as a unified country does not exist anymore; it's a failed state. What we have are three separate de facto states (and one of them, Kurdistan, has its own government and military, and is autonomous, although not formally independent yet). Iraq as a state was destroyed when the U.S. overthrew Saddam Hussein's government, and all the king's horses and all the king's men are never going to put Humpty Dumpty together again.

Until Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld accept and publicly acknowledge this reality, nothing positive will be accomplished.