I woke this morning to NPR and the deep, deep voice of Beltway Conventional Wisdom, in the person of Ted Koppel, proclaiming the official Beltway Consensus that we’ll be in Iraq “for years to come,” and that now both parties “owned the war.” (Koppel’s reasoning was that the Iraqi Army could not maintain the territorial integrity of the Iraqi state, and therefore our permanent presence was needed.)
Remarkably, or not, the consensus Koppel describes, or announces, emerged even before “General Petraeus deliver[ed] his report,” leaving at least this DFH
awed, though alas not shocked, at the multiple layers of kabuki involved: The report, which, as the commentariat never fails to fail to mention, will be in fact be written by White House operatives, no doubt black-clad in the best tradition of kabuki stagehands; the kabuki of the process by which we “waited” for the report, so that all necessary decisions could be made by fait accompli; and the kabuki of the “surge” itself, which everyone can see, though many are well paid to deny, has made no meaningful difference whatever in Iraq, but which has made all the difference in the world inside the Beltway, thus elegantly fulfilling the real strategic purpose for which it was designed.
And so what about the dead, the wounded, the amputees, the tortured, the looted billions, and the death of the Republic. Let’s not be childish.
Harry, Nancy: Nice work. You were the schwerpunkt for the surge—and “punkt” is indeed the word that I want.
Assuming the Beltway consensus is allowed to stand, the implications of placing an imperial garrison—the permanent bases; the billion dollar embassy complete with obesity-inducing Krispy Kreme donut shop—in the deserts of Iraq are reasonably obvious:
Iff* the Beltway Consensus for a permanent presence in Iraq is allowed to stand:
1. Our forces will be there until the mercs, the arms industry, the military-industrial complex, and the commentariat can’t make any more money, or until the United States government undergoes some sort of fiscal meltdown, whichever comes first.
2. More terror attacks will come, as Iraq continues to be a breeding ground for “terror.” This will not be a problem for some (see #1, supra), but it will be a problem for others; does anyone know what the insurance and re-insurance industries think of the likelihood of losing another American city? For myself, I think NOLA was no accident, but a model. The forthcoming OBL video, so conveniently timed, will reinforce all this, whether it is real or not.
3. Such constitutional protections as remain to us will continue to erode (see #2, supra), and even the outward forms of Constitutional governance will begin to decay; they get in the way when there’s money to be made, and power to be grabbed, as the Romans discovered in their day.
And let’s not even talk about the oil. Since Henry Kissinger has told us all we need to know anyhow.
Or that we need Iraq as a platform for other wars in the Middle East, notably against Iraq, but always on behalf of our client states, prominent among them Israel.
Welcome to the Great Game, America.
NOTE *There are plenty of reasons why the Beltway Consensus will not stand. “Events, dear boy, events.” Among them: (1) the Consensus doesn’t view the Iraqis as independent actors. Arming the Sunnis as part of a Beltway kabuki drama is one thing; actually maintaining an imperial presence is quite another. (2) the Consensus involves retreating to bases, as the Brits just did in Basra. As many commentators have pointed out, this is the best option from the standpoint of domestic politics, but the worse from a military standpoint; basically, we’re there a force in being to prevent an Iranian attack, but our very presence prevents a genuine Iraqi government from arising. (3) We shouldn’t confuse the ability of the ruling elites in the Beltway to wage internecine political war with competence in any other field. (4) the American people have made their decision on the war, and on the people who are waging it. They may have more to say, and do, than Our Betters imagine.
UPDATE General Betray-Us is “open” to maybe pulling out a brigade. What a farce. This quote from the “experts” says it all:Despite independent U.S. government findings that Iraq has not met most of its goals or benchmarks, there appears to be a growing conviction in Washington of real progress in Iraq.Yes, that was where the “surge” was really fought. Amazing, just amazing, that hundreds of Americans and thousands of Iraqis gave their lives so that the Serious
Beltway insiders could create their own reality and keep their war on. Rinse blood, collect money, keep shooting. Harry, Nancy: Nice work.
UPDATE As it turns out, the Betray-Us report won’t even be written. God, they are like the mob, aren’t they? 
Front page
and the saudis, don't forget those party loving princes who
are allowed to see top secret classified war plans when hanging out with their american
boyfriendbuddy president.they make our policy too!
anyhoo- oooh, npr got under somebody’s skin this morning, didn’t they? which is all good, because indeed it’s time to push the “Kabuki” meme. the dem angle, in particular. there are still some magically thinking fuzzy heads out there in the blogosphere and elsewhere, who believe in Moderation and Civility
and Unity
and Helplessness as a Progressive Value.
there are two answers: primary challenges, or revolution. you know which one i like, but i’ll settle for the other. bad news: local state parties are a rough and tumble place filled with incompetence and process dodgers and petty jealousies. so breaking in is hard, sometimes. good news, the progressive movement only has to win a couple of challenge races and it’ll get the attention it needs to accelerate change in policy. and it can be done, cheap. 100-200K in the last few weeks of ads, can do a great deal in terms of changing “hopeless” margins. i was just reading an email about it, it happened a lot last year no thanks to the DCCC. progressives came within striking distance on shoestring budgets, in the general no less. primary races are a much smaller target group, cheaper and easier to reach, if the effort were assisted.
if that sounds boring, there’s still that revolution thing.
wonderful video, lb
just perfect. although, we should look for some real Kabuki vids. even in video form, i bet some of it would be surreal, and beautiful (in all the ways that word can be applied).
Agreed, CD
I like:
1. Primary challenges
2. Getting involved in the local party
3. All forms of mockery, but especially clown suits.
Not sure about marches, a la the 15th. What do you think?
We. Are. Going. To. Die. We must restore hope in the world. We must bring forth a new way of living that can sustain the world. Or else it is not just us who will die but everyone. What have we got to lose? Go forth and Fight!—Xan
well, move on is taking the lead (finally)
i keed, i keed!
from an email i just got:
But go to Moveon.org for more info if you’re not already on their mailing list.
marches are great, lb. sustained, coordinated sit ins are much, much better. occupy a couple of blocks of DC for a couple of months and you’ll see change. people don’t understand: in nixon’s days, the warmongers were a lot less cowardly. ours will cave like lil girls if confronted by an angry public for any length of time. sure, some of us will be arrested and get our heads cracked, but no one said democracy was easy.
Another consequence will be
Another consequence will be the likely death of the Democratic party. The Democratic party will simply not survive elections for years to come if they did not seize on this moment of the public trust, and end the war. They will lose both houses in 2010, the white house in 2012, and they will like not regain either in our lifetimes.
People aren’t seeing them as weak anymore. Even many in the base no longer see the Demicrats as simply being weak. We are starting to see them as being every bit as corrupt and war mongering as the Republicans.
Of Course the Democratic Party Will "Survive."
The GOP needs them.
For ’contrast,’ if nothing else…
and to share the responsibility for their fuck-ups.
He’s right, and that was the reason the GOP “threw” (capitulated in the) ’06 “elections.” They didn’t pull out all the stops to steal it the way they did the last three times.
The USer/Globalist Strategy For the Middle East
becomes clearer every day:
1) Plunge the region into deadly, sectarian strife.
2) Support all contestants with money and arms.
3) Retreat into prepared positions (i.e., the 14 NEW bases constructed or still a’building).
4) Enjoy the ensuing chaos, slaughter and mayhem; then
5) When the antagonists have mutually exhausted one another, socially and militarily, emerge from the ’prepared positions’ with troops already in place to re-colonize the resources.
sounds about right. to clarify: the filter to view
what woody has just said “and “they” won’t worry about bankrupting the US to do it.” the foreign lending charade is going to end, real soon, but the war will go on. frankly i don’t want to think about what that means for us little people stuck in the Broke Authoritarian State.
Woody's Step Three
That will also play perfectly into the Republican party’s hand as pulling back into fortified bases means somewhat less troops would be needed, and less exposure leads to less casualties. A token number of troops will be sent home (“See, we’re bringing them home”) and US casualty figures will be touted (“See, it’s working, violence is down”)…just in time for the election.
options
there are two answers: primary challenges, or revolution. you know which one i like,
what about taking over our local PBS stations and insisting they clean up their news programming?
And Halliburton can still bill for the bases!
Yes, I’d say that’s a win-win situation.
Moderate
.
Centrist
.
Bipartisan
.
We. Are. Going. To. Die. We must restore hope in the world. We must bring forth a new way of living that can sustain the world. Or else it is not just us who will die but everyone. What have we got to lose? Go forth and Fight!—Xan
"we need to commit an additional 10,000 troops
in order to protect our vital bases in iraq.”
-president hillary, 2010
“it’s essential to vote in favor of the latest Base Protection Funding Bill. for the morale of our troops, and because in another 6mos, the bases will be fully operational and the site of the effort restore the legitimate gov’t iraq, which of course will be wildly successful.”
-harry reid, 2010
CD: Yup
The Dims don’t wanna object too much to the powers the Busheviki are hoarding because they’re only—if at all—a LEETLE bit less authoritarian fucktards than those who are running things now.