There's Nothing New in Washington

There's nothing new in Washington when it comes to dealing with the Iraq war. The long-awaited (and it has been long-awaited since it took some 9 months to compile) Iraq Study Group report was billed as a type of early Christmas present to the American people which, once handed over to their incompetent president, just might convince him to listen to someone other than his belligerent 'stay the course', neocon advisers like Donald Rumsfeld.

And, now that the report has been completed and delivered, everyone still has to wait until Bush gets his internal reports from his national security team and the Pentagon. This time, however, fixing their intel to suit his needs will be an absolute waste of time. Only then, according to Bush's spokespuppets, will he begin to 'synthesize' - to borrow a word from one of the senators who lobbed softball questions at Baker and Hamilton during their testimony about the ISG report today - all of the information at which time he might have his (drumroll for the new slogan) 'new way forward'.

There certainly can't be anyone out there who actually believes that Bush wasn't allowed to peak at his present before his early Christmas arrived this week. Nor should anyone. He had to authorize overseas talks between the report's authors and the Iranian government. (Yes, they've already spoken to the Iranians who reportedly have no interest in helping the US dig out its hellhole that has become the Iraq war, even while Bush kept insisting that his government would not and still won't talk to the Iranians without the promise of ending its uranium enrichment first.) He surely knew what was coming at him in this report every step of the way. It was a present wrapped in clear cellophane.

And, from what I've read and seen to this point of the ISG's report, all of the recommendations are simply a summary of points that politicians, pundits, world leaders, bloggers and anyone with a lick of common sense have been screaming at Bush for years. These are not new ideas. The only difference now is that the GOP lost the elections, the Democrats have congressional power, Rumsfeld has resigned, numerous conservatives (even neocons) have abandoned the boy king and now he and president Cheney have their backs up against the wall - finally.

Now, Bush has to be that 'decider' that he claims he is and in order to do that he has to look up the word 'compromise' in the dictionary - or perhaps get Condi to explain it to him. His reluctance to even grasp that concept is the sole reason for the lonely place he now finds himself in since, as he told Bob Woodward, 'I will not withdraw even if Laura and Barney are the only ones supporting me'. He's darn close to that reality already.

So, while Bush twiddles his thumbs some more and then makes his way to Crawford for his picture postcard Xmas celebration with his daughters (who have been busy causing international scenes in South America) while spending more time clearing whatever brush he can find to poke at for the cameras, the rest of the world, the Iraqis, the coalition, the soldiers and the families of those who won't be spending their holiday season with their loved ones because thousands of them have now been lost thanks to Bush's criminal incompetence in starting and managing this war - everybody will simply have to wait... while he 'synthesizes'.

No. There's nothing new in Washington.