Bush and Iraqi elections

The elections happened, despite all the cries that they couldn’t or shouldn’t occur. Bush is getting a lot of praise for this. He’s a leader, he has courage, etc. Well, maybe.

But let’s be realistic. Bush had nothing to lose by insisting on the immediacy of the elections. If they pull it off, then Bush looks like a man of determination and vision. If they fail, then he can easily blame it on the insurgents and take no blame at all. And it’s not like he had to do any of the heavy lifting to make it happen. It was a win-win for Bush. He had nothing to lose.

The elections were a big public relations victory. But will installing a democratic process to a bunch of religious fanatics make the region more stable? Or America any safer? Will it keep our oil prices down? That all remains to be seen.

But for the time being, America has done a good thing. Even though the invasion was illegal, and based entirely on lies and more lies. Even though Bush's only real motivation was freeing that Iraqi oil for U.S. corporations, and dominating the region for geo-political reasons. This will all ultimately be for the better if (1) we pull ALL of the soldiers out, (2) American taxpayers are paid back through Iraqi oil profits, (3) the Iraqi constitution protects the civil rights of all its citizens, (4) and American voters NEVER FORGET how they can be hoodwinked by ridiculous deceptions into a war-for-profit under the guise of helping someone else, and will NEVER let it happen again. Hopefully, the next president who's hot for adventurism will have to tell us the REAL reasons for war, so we can debate the issue on those merits--instead of dividing the country into two angry partisan-blind groups. A fella can hope, anyway...