Bush's Luggage

In Viet Nam George W Bush and Dick Cheney preferred to do their cutting and running preemptively. Maybe that’s why they are so worried about being judged as weak. But in authoring and exploiting the language of “cut and run” the dynastic duo have painted the US into a corner.
It’s easy to understand why they employed the strategy in the first place-it works. It’s juvenile but effective. 10 year-olds have been using the technique to taunt others into doing stupid things on playgrounds through the ages- “what are you chicken?” but by painting the war in Iraq as a global test of American courage Bush has constructed a dangerously simple narrative that plays right into the hands of Al Qaeda.
If the US were to leave Iraq next Friday Al Qaeda would claim a great victory on Saturday. And on Sunday the population of Iraq would start hunting them down.
It is the expressed goal of Osama Bin Laden to provoke the US into attacking a Muslim country to set the stage for a protracted –Afghanistan style conflict. Occupation is the oxygen of Jihad. Without it they can’t recruit or raise money or maintain a rationale powerful enough to convince angry young people to blow themselves up. But arrogance prevents Bush and the Neo Cons from recognizing that nuance, so instead of outfoxing our enemies with a cut and paste strategy that sucks the air out of the Jihadi furnace Bush stokes the fire with “cut and run”.
Having fabricated a cold war mythology Neo Cons are now being hoisted by their own petard. The have an almost totalitarian belief in perception management, not as a tool for damage control but as a weapon for population control. That’s why they place such a premium on power projection through theatrical micro-militarism. Or -sticking to playground analogy- kicking the crap out of one feeble kid (or country) to scare the crap out of all the feeble kids (in this case, Syria, Iran etc.)
Through this lens they see the world, present and past. That’s why the Bushies understand Russia’s defeat in Afghanistan and draw the incorrect conclusion- that it was the disgrace that toppled the Soviet Empire. Empires don’t collapse from humiliation. Afghanistan was a demoralizing blow to the Soviets, but it was the loss of blood and treasure that crippled the Kremlin. No one would claim that America is on the verge of a similar financial collapse, but the Iraq war is costing taxpayers a billion dollars a week-that’s a lot of levy.
Jihad means holy war, not holy victory. The existence of the war itself is the point; the goal is to keep the war going. The longer it lasts the weaker the superpower gets, and the stronger the Jihad gets. Guerillas perfect methods of attack, hone organizational skills and thrive in the growth medium of extreme circumstances. Populations are force fed violence and oppression. Caught between the hammer and the anvil of occupier and insurgent their lives become hell and they are forced to choose between the unbearable status quo and taking some action that will bring a change. Many of them choose what seems to be the straightest path to an exit -drive out the occupier.
Now the administration wants us to stop quibbling and arguing over whose idea this war was and accept that if we leave everyone will think we’re chickens. But in his effort to beat down domestic opposition Bush ensures that those soldiers lucky enough not to be shipped home in the luggage section of a commercial airline will carry the seed of shame in the back of their minds. Leaving behind an Iraq that looks a lot more like Lebanon than Athens they will be unable to realistically conclude that we have actually “Won” anything. And their President told then over and over that if they leave before we achieve total victory we are all cowards.