No Run Show Gun

by pessimist

Political Satirist Chris Davis has an interesting idea that may actually have a germ of truth to it, considering the US' international situation today:

Bush to Propose Draft for War In Iraq

President Bush is planning to propose a reinstatement of the draft. The move comes after Howard Dean pronounced that America can’t win the war in Iraq, comparing it to the Vietnam War.

Dean, the Democratic National Chairman, on Monday told a San Antonio, Texas, radio station that the United States appears to be making the same mistakes it made during the Vietnam War, and the idea that the war in Iraq can be won is “just plain wrong.”

Bush is sending the proposal up before Congress breaks for Christmas, and wants immediate action, especially after polls conclusively showed that Americans want out of Iraq.

Chris Davis then gets real:

The Vietnam War and its ugly lessons have come full circle. The media, the Democratic Party and Americans have realized that the war in Iraq is a stark reminder of a quagmire effort that leads to a miserable failure. The polls are conclusive: Americans want their sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, and mothers and fathers home for Christmas.

This ugly truth has left President Bush with only the draft to finish the job.

Chris Davis may not be so far off the truth, for King George's Merry Band of Oil Rustlers is growing smaller.

Poland is reducing its commitment to oil piracy:

Poland has the third largest contingent in the US led coalition in Iraq. It has trimmed its troop deployment from 2500 to 1400, and plans to reduce the force next year to 900.

They must later have had second thoughts:

Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski said in July that the United States had agreed to Poland's plan to withdraw the remaining 1,400 troops from Iraq by the end of January, 2006.

Must be elections coming up in Poland.

Poland's neighbor Ukraine will pull their troops out from Iraq by this year's end [more here], as will Bulgaria - a move which prompted Conan O'Brien to make 'an insulting joke about Bulgaria's presence in Iraq' and thus maybe created another diplomatic crisis for Condi to bungle.

In addition, "Germany’s new chancellor, Angela Merkel, has endorsed the anti-war policy of her predecessor, Gerhard Schroeder, by making it clear that she will keep German troops out of the US led coalition forces occupying Iraq."

There is a less-than-subtle hint being issued by the 'government' and people of Iraq. Iraqi National Security Adviser Muwaffaq Rubaie said:

'By the middle of next year, more than 30,000 foreign troops will pull out of Iraq,' Rubaie told reporters after meeting Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. 'We hope that by the end of the year (2006), more than 60,000 troops from the Multinational Force will have withdrawn, bringing the number of foreign troops under the 100,000 mark in 2007,' he added.

In addition, the feuding Shi'a and Sunni entities jointly issued a statement "urging a timetable for the end of the US military presence", a position cautiously supported by the Iraqi Lap Dog 'pRedzident'.

Sounds like a "Time to go home, Yank!" message to me! Are you listening, George? The American people really favor leaving Iraq no matter what you and Unka Dickless say, and one taxpaying citizen had this to tell you:

It now appears we did invade Iraq for the wrong reason, but we accomplished our goal of removing Saddam Hussein from power and capturing him. Now, we should leave as soon as possible. We've worn out our welcome, and the body count continues to grow day by day.

I think that Japan thought they heard the 'Last Call' from the Baghdad Cafe, but they asked their mates if what they heard was true:

Japan's GSDF to pull out of Iraq if security forces leave:

Japan would withdraw its troops from southern Iraq if British and Australian forces in charge of security in the area pull out, according to a draft of the government's new basic deployment plan.

The Brits certainly heard the barman call "Time, gentlemen!"

Let's see now - Tony the Killer Attack Lap Poodle confirms that British Troops are leaving [more here]

They must use some different phrase to end the drinking period in Australia. John Howard says 'No Way! We Stay!', which prompted Asahi Shimbun's Dec. 9 response:

The Cabinet decided Thursday to extend the SDF's tour of duty in Iraq by another year. The decision was not preceded by any serious debate, despite the fact that the Iraq war's legitimacy has always been strongly suspect, and that even U.S. public opinion is now leaning toward bringing American soldiers home.

Kiichi Fujiwara, a University of Tokyo professor, observes in his book Fuan no Shotai! (The real cause of anxiety!) from Chikuma Shobo that the way international politics is being run by the United States today is similar to how the Tokugawa shogunate-and-domain system worked in Japan in the Edo Period (1603-1867).

"The shogun is President George W. Bush, of course, and nations of the world are competing in their allegiance to him," Fujiwara explains.

Using Fujiwara's premise that each nation is a daimyo feudal lord, Britain is perhaps a shinpan (lord of a domain owned by a Tokugawa family branch or affiliation), and Japan a fudai (lord of a domain in hereditary vassalage to the Tokugawas).

Germany, which is against the Iraq war, could be characterized as a tozama (lord of a domain of outside vassalage to the Tougawas). German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who sat with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in a joint news conference recently, criticized the United States for not observing the rules of democracy nor international laws. She was referring to recent suspicions that the Central Intelligence Agency has been running secret detention centers in Eastern Europe and other areas, and that the CIA was using German airports without permission.

There is growing censure against the "shogun." It is time for Japan to stop being his loyal vassal and map out its own withdrawal strategy.

You see, George, it's like this. When you told the world 'You are either with us or against us', you drew a line and expected everyone to cross over and join your Crusade For Crude under the guise of 'defeating terrorism' while not recognizing that you yourself were acting like a terrorist. Certainly, many nations joined initially, mostly to ensure that you wouldn't force them out of the big petroleum plunder party once you 'secured' the undamaged Oil Ministry building in Baghdad.

But as later events demonstrated to most of the 'Coalition of the Swilling', you were in over your head and you didn't know what to do about it. They figured that it was time to get out before they got tarred with the same brush to be used on you when it's time for the world to figure out where they let you go wrong.

In fact, this Monday, they are going to hold a major economic conference to which you are expressly NOT invited! Considering that Japan is about to change their easy money policy, this change is going to affect the economies of the other 15 Asian nations attending, and this pessimist thinks that they are being advised on what Japan is going to do and how to coordinate their protectionism plans so that they don't get sucked down with the USS Bomba$tic Ba$tard as it sinks in the Pacific Ocean once the oil war credit is cut off.

They won't feel too badly about this, I'm afraid. More and more, the 'With US' tally grows smaller while 'Against US' grows. Things like opposing the ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (To date, 192 nations have ratified the treaty. Only two have not - USA and Somalia), the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (seven countries voted against - US, Israel, China, Iraq, Qatar, Libya and Yemen), and a new treaty aimed at protecting cultural diversity worldwide sponsored by UNESCO (Only two states voted against it - US and Israel) is causing the world to ask Is The United States A Rogue State?

The United States is the only nation to oppose all three [treaties], and the list of U.N. treaties and conventions that Washington has not signed or has actively opposed goes on and on. [T]he U.S. government can almost be expected to stand in opposition each time such treaty proceedings arise. Indeed, the United States, especially in recent years, is increasingly being seen in the world as a lone state, thumbing its diplomatic nose at international pacts on everything from banning the use and production of landmines to curbing global warming.

This staunch refusal to join with other nations on such a wide range of treaties, experts say, is hurting the already tarnished image of the world's sole superpower in the eyes of the international community. "It sends the message that the United States has been the biggest violator and thrasher of international law in the post-war period," Richard Du Boff, a professor emeritus of economic history at Bryn Mawr College in the state of Pennsylvania, told IPS.

Du Boff added that while the U.S. has often opposed U.N. conventions since the end of the Second World War, its isolationist posture "has escalated dramatically and reached a level never before challenged" during the presidency of George W. Bush.

This, Du Boff said, makes the U.S. a "rogue" in the realm of international law.

"The term is inspired by U.S. officials themselves," he said. "This is a term that they constantly apply to any country that does something we may not like: 'rogue state'."

However, it is the record of the U.S. and its stance on international legislation, he said, that stands in such stark contrast to that of the rest of the world.

One of the touchiest areas in the rocky relationship between the U.S. and the international community is Washington's overt hostility toward the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague. Human rights advocates and non-governmental organisations say the U.S. government's stance toward ICC creates a two-tiered system of international law: one for U.S. nationals and one for everyone else.

The Bush administration maintains that U.S. personnel must be exempt from prosecution by the court, and has pressured ICC member states to sign bilateral deals promising not to hand over any U.S. nationals to the court's jurisdiction.

Organisations such as the New-York based Human Rights Watch (HRW) have blasted the U.S. for its refusal to recognise the legitimacy of the court, saying such a stance hurts the image of the U.S. in the world.

"U.S. ambassadors have been acting like schoolyard bullies," Richard Dicker, director of HRW's International Justice Programme, said in a statement. "The U.S. campaign has not succeeded in undermining global support for the court. But it has succeeded in making the U.S. government look foolish and mean-spirited."

At the UNESCO meeting, Timothy Craddock, the ambassador from Britain, one of Washington's staunchest allies, called the treaty, "clear, carefully balanced, and consistent with the principles of international law and fundamental human rights". However, he added that Britain and the European Union had "agreed to disagree" with "one country".

So, there it is. The world is turning - against YOU, George - and only you fail to see this. The ruling of Britain's Law Lords - their version of the Supreme Court, as I understand it - should be a wake-up call if the abandonment of your 'coalition' isn't working for you. You can kick Rummy out of the Pentagon and put Joe Mental in his place if you want to, but it isn't going to help you one bit.

Fitzgerald is closing in on you, and you can't count on DeLay being back to bail your sorry ass out. There are even reports that indicate your own parents 'differ' over you and your little mi$adventure in the Oil $and$.

You are running out of friends to watch your back, and the wolves are gathering.

Imagine what will happen when you really try to draft the sons of those who allowed you to steal their government from them. They might let you screw them, but they'll be damned if they are going to let you kill their kids for Halliburton's profit margin.

You'll wish the wolves had gotten you first!

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