the inevitable slaughter

Bush says talk of civil war in Iraq is "all kinds of speculation." Actually, no, George Bush. When different groups organize themselves along sectarian lines, locate large quantities of the rival faction, explode bombs indiscriminantly killing 200 of them, then the side that just got killed locates random members of the faction that did the killing, pours kerosene on them and burns them to death -- it's a civil war. Furthermore, when the two groups engage in violence of this nature on a daily basis, it is no longer "speculation."

Bush has officially returned to the familiar, tired, and pathetic rhetoric of "stay the course." We knew the reconciliatory babble following the election was a fraud, but at least now Democrats and anybody else sensible enough to join them can dig in and return to the constructive task of restricting George Bush's power to fuck things up as much as possible.

I can't find the link at the moment, but I read an article today or yesterday which said the Baker commission will not be recommending a phased troop withdrawal. It's also clear that Democrats in Congress will not use their constitutional authority to cut off funds for the war. Bush has made it clear that U.S. troops will remain in Iraq through his presidency (he will leave office in January 2009) and will not pull them out until we "win." By my projections, this means that a substantial U.S. military presence will remain in Iraq for at least two and a half years -- perhaps it will be scaled down to 70,000 or 80,000 troops as opposed to 150,000 -- but I'd be shocked if reductions beyond that were made.

Since October, 169 troops have been killed in this war. At that clip, 2,400 more U.S. soldiers will die during the Bush presidency. There's absolutely no indication that the violence will abate -- if anything, it appears to be escalating. Who knows how many soldiers will be dead when it's all said and done, but the saddest part is that they all will have died in vain.