Plan For Victory

I suppose I'd be remiss if I let the evening pass by without some comment on Mr. Bush's "Plan For Victory" speech, which left me with an empty and overwhelming feeling of despair for most of the day. It wasn't so much the immediate mention of 9/11, or the carefully chosen audience, or the ludicrous game of semantics being played with the words "insurgent" and "rejectionist", or even the obvious fact that there is no new plan at all - just a glossy repackaging of the same open-ended and presumptuous "goals".

I mean, those items are certainly depressing in their own right, but not one of them came as any real surprise. And there are already legions of excellent writers in the blogosphere and MSM taking issue with each of those redundantly disingenuous points.

No, the thing that threw me deeper and deeper into a funk with each twitch of the President's lips was the horrifying confirmation of his true vision for the world's future. I realized with greater clarity than ever before that his is not a dream of global peace achieved through diplomacy, brotherhood, education, scientific development, tolerance, inclusiveness, honesty, accountability, intelligence, compassion, or even simple planning.

His dream is of a world at war.

Speaking with more energy and passion than he's displayed in quite some time, Mr. Bush employed shocking phrases like:

...the importance of their service in the first war of the 21st century...

...naval aviators who will fly combat missions over the skies of Afghanistan and Iraq and elsewhere...

...In the years ahead, you'll join them in the fight...

...If our military leaders tell me we need more troops, I will send them...

The President seemed rejuvenated, almost gleeful at times, while he described what he sees as our continued success in turning the "new" Iraq into a military society. A society where every patriotic Shiite and Sunni takes up a gun with our blessing. A society where the rebuilding of the nation's infrastructure and the creation of new business falls under the Iraqi (or American) army's control.

A society where progress is measured by the number of citizens who are proficient at killing.

Oh, I know that Mr. Bush, standing triumphantly this morning before a young and gung-ho military crowd (in which he fancies himself an honored member) while wrapping himself in the romantic cloak of World War II, did mention the word "peace" several times as a distant ideal, and gave limited lip service to the issue of establishing an elected government, and ultimate Iraqi autonomy. But this speech was about little more than a celebration of combat readiness and death with honor, and his commitment, "as long as I'm Commander in Chief," to send untold thousands more American kids to their dutiful demise.

As I sat at the dinner table tonight and looked across at the carefree face of my 17-year-old son, I found it impossible to erase the image from my mind of the President almost salivating with delight, as he contended that his determination to continue the carnage for years to come is the sole viable option before us. And I shuddered to recall his conclusion that:

There's only one way to honor the sacrifice of Corporal Starr (ph) and his fallen comrades. And that is to take up their mantle, carry on the fight and complete their mission.

Many have complained today that Mr. Bush once again failed to tell us what that mission actually is. But I think he may have spelled it out with disturbing clarity, and, in an unusual moment of forthrightness, warned us all to brace ourselves for the inevitable.

As long as he remains in power, George's mission is all war, all the time, a neo-con vision of a globe transformed by American military domination. The President sees his place in history very clearly. And he let us know today that he plans to sacrifice even more of our sons and daughters to achieve it.