"A New Way Forward"

You're gonna walk that endless highway,
Walk that high-way till you die.
All you children goin' my way,
Better tell your home-life sweet goodbye.
Bob Dylan, "Endless Highway"

I heard Bush speak yesterday as he stood before a backdrop of high ranking pentagon officers who were sporting more brass than could be alloyed from zinc and all the copper ever mined from the El Chino open pit in New Mexico.

The one thing that always impresses me about Bush when speaking about his war is how remarkably he sounds like Bush from his Iraq speeches of last summer, last spring, 2005, 2004, etc. Almost as if he'd prerecorded these back in '03 before the invasion to be used as little time-release Sudafed capsules.

However, if last month's mid-term elections are any indication, it seems all the reassurances of Bush's Iraq vision have lost their potency. The efficacy of Bush's TV time capsule commercials for war have worn off.

Well not exactly, as evidenced by the front page of this morning's local newspaper. It sported the picture of a local 29 year old soldier, a sergeant who was killed in Iraq when his tank, as part of a convoy, was struck by a rocket propelled grenade.

But as Bush's aide, Dick Cheney, has told us, he and the president are never ones to listen to public opinion when it comes to their war. On the contrary, Bush's capsule time released for our consumption yesterday seems to hint at an even greater troop strength in the months ahead, not less. But the pill has a new coating, hopefully making it easier to swallow. It's called "A New Way Forward." Remarkably it tastes a lot like "The Old Way Behind Us."

I can't imagine how it must be for soldiers in Iraq to endure this debate back home. Seems like folks want 'em to come home while their commander-in-chief demands they continue to march. And despite the public having spoken, their congress continues to fund their war.

How difficult it must be, convoying along in your M-1A1, $4,000,000 plus Abrams tank replete with depleted uranium armor knowing that any second you could be toasted by a low-cost RPG or roadside bomb as casualty of a U.S. created Iraqi civil war .

But Bush appreciates the difficulty of the mission ahead for our service men and women. Of the courage required in the face of targeting by guerillas and insurgents, for it's a courage Bush, himself, never had. In fact, he couldn't find the character to finish his tour in a champagne unit of the Texas Air National Guard dodging the Vietnam war.

Thank god in the past thirty plus years, Bush has nurtured his strength and courage in the face of incredible chaos and danger. Appears he's going to need it for his Iraqi "New Way Forward."