Head up your ass?

For the longest time I have felt that Bush was full of shit and now I know why: his head is permanently lodged in his ass. Academics may quibble over the exact definition of a 'civil war' (try getting them to explain the difference between a crisis, a conflict, and a war and you may simply give up asking) but I think most of us might agree that if Iraq is not in a civil war yet it is certainly headed there or in what we might call 'pre-civil war' mode. Sectarian killing is not the usual marker for a civil war but in this case it has clear political implications so it's okay to start using the word civil war as the UN, Blair, and Bush's own generals have done. Bush, however, in his oh so limited wisdom disagrees. This is not a civil war, he insists.

Despite ample evidence from his own Defense dept, CIA, State dept, and just about every foreign intelligence agency that the problem in Iraq is the insurgency NOT al Qaida, Bush continues to insist that the problem is AQ. How far up one's own ass must one be to fully drown out the sound of evidence piling up that contradicts one's opinion? Admittedly, once we make a decision we tend to stick to it but psychologists tell us that as evidence mounts that our decision was flawed we go through a transition where we acknowledge our mistake and change course. Some call this learning others just plain intelligence and still others that this is proof of our humanity. So Bush is a not too bright dud without much in the way of human qualities, is that it?

I can't pass judgement but it is getting a tad ridiculous to hear our 'commander in chief', the great 'decider', if you will, remain blind to the world and deaf to the advice of his advisors. The problem is not AQ the problem is an insurgency that hates our presence and tit for tat revenge killings along sectarian lines that our presence cannot stop, control, or mitigate.

In short, Iraq, Mister Bush, is headed into a civil war that, you sir, are almost entirely responsible for allowing to occur.