Let the debate begin. Seven and a half years late might be better than never.

Like much of the World, I'm trying to calibrate my reaction to President Obama's prime timer last night on the end of combat operations in Iraq.  And since what is blogging if not therapy writ wide open and unedited for everyone to go rooting around in, here's a few thoughts.  

Most importantly, it's about time we started debating what our 7+ years and $1Trillion+ in Iraq truly boils down to.  Or whether we're truly at long last on our way "home" from that War.  Every available metric paints a lousy current picture - the best rundown I've heard was on Harry Shearer's "Le Show" this weekend.  Save the only one that everyone in support of going to War still mentions straight up - no more Saddam Hussein.  Instead of getting stuck there, I'd suggest that we all should think back to the actual "debate" that came prior.  Take the ol' chestnut defined as the "Pottery Barn" rule attributed to then Secretary of State Colin Powell.  Supposedly, "if you break it, you own it."  Set aside the fact that no such rule exists at Pottery Barn and you're still left with us shattering that "rule" even beyond it's false meaning.  So here we are as combat troops are redeploying.  And over there?  We did, indeed, break it.  And now we do not actually own it.  Much worse, we had to pay for the cost of doing so.  Those that do now own it, I think, could be defined as exactly the sort of people we would have preferred not have possession after said breakage.  I believe that Nuri al Malaki, Ahmed Chalabi and the others still wrangling over the results of an election from six months ago don't care about democracy.  For them it's the spoils of victory that are still worth fighting over.  And thanks to the grand wisdom of Richard Perle (ooh, I just got a chill), Paul Wolfowitz and Donald Rumsfeld (to touch on just a few obvious raw nerves), that's who we've now got to work with in place of Saddam in Iraq.  So yes, now let's at long last have that enduring historical debate.  Oh, and we will.  For decades.

In terms of Obama's speech, I think he struck the tone that we should expect from him.  Elegiac.  Frustrating in its willingness to give up too much to the presumed opposition.  Painted deep deep into a policy corner.  For all his obvious intellect, I'd bet Barack plays crappy poker.  In the past I've claimed he's a chess man.  But it's more obvious - he's a baller.  Put up your best defense and he'll shoot right over the top of you.  He uses deception only insofar as a fake pass or the political equivalent.  No cheating and if he's bluffing about how strong he feels or where he's going, a smart opposing player will see it telegraphed.  Right now, Obama's legs are still strong.  And the opposition should be seen as a joke.  That, however, might be exactly the wrong lesson to take into halftime of this term.  These midterms are going to be almost as brutal as the prevailing momentum's forecasting, I think.  Calling this play right now is a baller move.  Because no one's on the lookout for a finesse game right now.   But it could show that the game Obama's playing isn't nearly as dominant as people thought just last season.  Enough with the basketball analogy.  It does, though, still constitute my assessment of where this speech and this policy choice fits into the larger picture for the Obama Administration.  They may truly be a one-term Presidency.

My only other comment right now is to say that no family that's had to endure a deployment wants to be told that we owe Dubya some credit now.  Or ever.  Hearing that revisionist crap tumble from the Bushies, John McCain, John Boehner and all the lesser chickenhawks is just salt in the wounds that aren't going away.  And there are lots of wounds out there.  A million and half military personnel have been deployed in Iraq.  The ballpark number I heard reported this weekend of post-action mental issues is 30% of those people.  So over 400,000 people would have something to say about the wisdom of giving Dubya credit for what he did to them.  'Nuff said about that.

Well, like I said - this debate is just starting.  I hope we all get a chance to let some of it out, while actually taking the time to listen across the divide.  Be well.

Anniversary, saddamiversary - let's call the whole thing off.

Every time our lethargic nation chooses to pay attention to Iraq, we're told to believe that a turning point is at hand. The 5th Anniversary of the invasion and the bleak milestone of 4000 dead American soldiers are only the most recent examples of trying to change the flavor of the moment with a turn or two of phrase. But in trying to recollect a now cloudy thought of my own just a few moments ago - the argument that the invasion needed to happen in March before the weather turned decidedly toward summer and the temperatures escalated for our troops in their chemical suits - I came across a lost gem. Via the White House website, no less. If you love punishing post mortems, I highly recommend a quick read. If you want the nugget and can do without the waste, Condi Rice falsely argued in late January of 2003 that the Prezidunt had the justification to do the U.N.'s bidding and forcefully disarm Saddam. She closed by saying that Iraq should know that "time is running out." Yet, here we are, over 5 years later, being told to expect that troop levels through the end of Dubya's reign will remain basically the same. While the fractured Mahdi Army and associated Shiite allies conduct an obvious offensive. As the weather heats up. And basic services are at a worse level than before the invasion. And our nation looks at the daily drumbeat of bad economic newsiness with a sense of not knowing what's next. Hell, even Seattle is finally seeing a depreciation of housing valuation for the first time since 1991. I hate to get all canary in the coalmine about this whole fandango. But wake up, America. Today may not be a Tet Offensive. But the stretched parallels to that sleepy late January lunar New Year are awkwardly hard to deny, at best. Scary as hell, at worst.

Hope your own discovered past speeches only feature lame Beavis and Butthead jokes today. Rock on.

"Plus, that Mother Theresa chick left the building one of my people just told me."

I'm embarrassed to admit that I didn't watch Dubya's entire presser yesterday. But as the viral flux of our age has shown me today, I should have. Let's face it - Dubya makes the not-so-occassional gaffe. Still, saying that Nelson Mandela was dead and that Saddam Hussein bizarrely had something to do with it is a new level of head-scratcher. 16 months, People. 16 more months of this guy running our Country. Short your stocks now. Or stock your shorts - however you whether these periods.



Hope your own weekend trips take you where the fall colors cancel out any notice of Red States versus Blue States differences. Rock on.