Retreat of the Neocons

It was interesting to see my old mate George Dubya Bush on TV last night, trying to inspire "confidence" in the US allies to the effect of convincing them not to retreat from Iraq, poor fella had this pained Double-Glazing Salesman's smile on, making him look even more moronic than usual (it didn't help that I took the sound off whilst viewing and ironically got the full essence of his spiel).

His logic however is sound- a rushed withdrawal would be fatal and in any event impossible, however I refer to a withdrawal of US troops, not to British troops. The consequences of a rushed US withdrawal would be fatal for the region and the world would be horrific, in that it'd become a powderkeg of violent fundamentalist ideological significance, not counting the severe logistical cost.

This does not however apply to Britain, hence aside from political courtesy and minor psychological advantage, I fail to see what stops Britain from withdrawing its Troops, whilst it may seem mean, the region of Basra is lost anyway, with British Troops confined to their perimeter. Cutting ones losses becomes an inevitable prospect.

In this context, I overheard Dubya murmuring something a couple of days ago about action against Iran, suitably it was ignored by most serious commentators and more significantly by Iran- a measure of America's standing in the eyes of its prospective adversaries, pretty sad if the world's policeman becomes a bumbling joke, imagine quaking at the prospect of being arrested by Bonzo the clown. A man who is regarded even by his own party now as a liability, iwho has been effectively emasculated by Democrat control of the two Houses plainly is not in the position to start another war hence...

This is the cost of an ill-conceived war that has exposed America - and Britains weaknesses, a war which was conceived, pitched by and executed according to the plan of the Neoconservative Lobby.

As his lackeys desert him or fall i.e Rove, Gonzales et al; one must reflect as to how a country containing the highest concentration of the smartest people in the world could elect this man into office- twice. The answer is complex but one clue is the fact of 250,000 American's migrating to Canada after the elections. A tragedy for the world, nonetheless on account of the needless suffering occasioned by the Iraqi war.

As for the Neocons, well what can I tell you, these guys have been around for yonks, I remember during the Reagan years, there was a shadowy Ideological Think-tank group called the Heritage Club- now called the Heritage Foundation, which "advised" the White House on State policy in accordance with traditional American values- nice!

The Neocon Iraq strategy as usual was drawn up by pasty-faced, overweight Ivy-League closet megalomaniacs, without the slightest inkling of the operational, logistical and bless my soul Macro-Political effects of the feeble, watery plan they were pushing an dwhich had bare-knuckle stimulus from those two Corporate terrible twins- Rumsfeld and Cheney. Well we see the consequences, starting a war you can't win and can't retreat from, classic!

Anyway, the story of this war is all around us, I can't really add anything new, but to put the character of the Neocon lobby in perspective - at least in a light-hearted manner- I leave you with an old post I left about a year ago-

Neocons and Brain death

A lot of the initiative to invade Iraq came from the Neo-Conservatives in the US. Im not going to get into an argument about the pros and cons, (dated and tiresome, the facts speak for themselves). I shall however give you two pearls of wisdom from these paragons of a perfect society.

a. James Dobson, founder of right-wing group Focus on the Family, attacked SpongeBob Squarepants - the cartoon character at a black-tie dinner in the run-up to President Bush's inauguration, describing it as a Gay Icon, because it frequently holds hands with its best friend a Starfish named Patrick. Apparently the group Sister Sledge did a remake of the video for the song "We are Family" using shots of Sponge-Bob and planned to mail it to schools to promote the ethnic unity in diversity of America. This was criticised by Dobson as a clandestine attempt to spread Gay thought amongst young American children?!?

b. Tinky Winky - yes the hand-bag carrying Teletubby, was also criticised as Gay symbol by the Conservative Think-tanks because of his offending hand-bag.Now I recognise the significance of subliminal messages (hence the title of this bloody blog), but guys please!!

Anyway, Im glad about Brokeback Mountain and the Cowboy character in Village people (both of which I was indifferent to as entertainment, to be honest), because I really want to know what the Neocon's reaction to these two direct symbol's, ban Cowboys? These call to question Judgement surely?What worries me about the above instances is that it betrays an unhealthy disposition, the first thing I think of when I see Sponge Bob/Tinky Winky is not their Sexuality (Goodness me!!!) but either the humour or infant entertainment value respectively. If what you see is the former, then you need help and immediately too. Freud, Freud, Freud.Now about the decision to go to invade Iraq?