Congress' Move

Now that the president has made it clear that he has no concern about what congress has to say or what congress does concerning his decision to send more troops to Iraq, the ball is now in congress’ court. It will be interesting for sure to see how they respond in the coming weeks. The president has dared them in so many words to try and stop him. He has completely disregarded the ISG report on Iraq. It will be interesting to see how the Iraqi government responds to this policy whether they will cooperate or not. We are already finding out that it is not getting off to a welcome start there. If things go badly as a result of this troop increase, then the will be running for cover since he is putting himself out as the fall guy for his policy.

Previously I had been willing to give the president the benefit of the doubt that since he was taking the time to consult with those who have expertise in foreign policy and who are knowledgeable concerning the conditions in Iraq. I was hopeful that he was showing signs of being willing to work with those who had other ideas on how to solve the Iraq crisis. The Wednesday night speech let us know differently. It occurs to me then why the elder Bush was in tears during a speech he gave on behalf of his son then governor of Florida. I believe he knew then that his eldest was not going to follow the lead of the ISG because a father knows his children. A father knows his child’s personality he knows his child’s character and I for one believe that was why he broke down in tears. I am not a mind reader though but that episode looked to have come from deep within his torn soul trying to save his son from political disaster.

So what will happen next? What could happen, there will most likely be a wait and see approach by the congress to see how things will go in Iraq as a result of the troop level increase that is already in progress. This may be the motive behind why we are hearing early on from commanders that it will take time for the troop increase to show signs of success possibly in hopes of keeping congress from making any sudden moves against the surge. If things go badly congress will pull support of the troop increase. Or what could happen is those with ties to his father’s administration may if not already move against him privately paving the way for his removal. The president is clearly riding on the government in Iraq to go along with his policy. He has put himself out as the scapegoat for this policy if it fails and it maybe a fate that he has sealed for himself