William S. Lind over at Antiwar reinforces and ratifies what Atrios has been saying for months: Forget the withdrawal talk--we're not leaving Iraq as long as a certain sick fantasist occupies the White House. Even if James Baker III gives him a stern talking-to, we're stuck. The rising body count is the reflection of one man's diseased pride and ego.
Lind:
"At least 32 American troops have been killed in Iraq this month. Approximately 300 have been wounded. The 'battle for Baghdad' is going nowhere. A Marine friend just back from Ramadi said to me, 'It didn't get any better while I was there, and it's not going to get better.' Virtually everyone in Washington, except the people in the White House, knows that is true for all of Iraq.
"Actually, I think the White House knows it too. Why then does it insist on 'staying the course' at a casualty rate of more than one thousand Americans per month? The answer is breathtaking in its cynicism: so the retreat from Iraq happens on the next president's watch. That is why we still fight.
"Yep, it's now all about George. Anyone who thinks that is too low, too mean, too despicable even for this bunch does not understand the meaning of the adjective 'Rovian.' Would they let thousands more young Americans get killed or wounded just so George W. does not have to face the consequences of his own folly? In a heartbeat."
The mystery for future historians is why Bush's illusions and grandiosities were so coddled and cradled by everyone from his craven staff to Joe Lieberman and Tony Blair. How was he blessed (and the rest of us cursed) by so many enablers?
