Yes, and Powell really wanted UN authorization. I tend to listen to the most extreme and unacceptable messages that emanate from BushCo as they have been right to far. Those around me thought I was a paranoid nutcase for stating in 2000 that GWB wanted to get Saddam. Now GWB could care less about Syria, but his NeoCons are not done and Rove knows that the war glow from Iraq will not burn brightly enough to take him through 2004. But perhaps if Syria, Iran, NK as well as all the other governments in the world continue to cower in response to BushCo, they just might make it through 2004 without dropping any more bombs, even though the economy will be unraveling. The good cop / bad cop routine regarding Syria (GWB gets to be the good cop this time while Powell donned the bad cop hat (I almost detest Powell more the GWB because he knows what he is doing)) is insurance -- keep the world very afraid and if another war is needed, the case will already have been made.
Posted by Marie at April 15, 2003 04:32 AMThanks for your comments about the Syrian situation; I fervently hope you are right.
As for what's driving the hardliners in the administration, take a look at today's issue of Ha'aretz and Moshe Arens' op-ed, "Nothing Will Be the Same Again". If Bush has suddenly gained a backbone in standing up to the Sharon-lovers in his adminstration, that will be gret news. I'm not holding my breath, though.
Posted by beth at April 15, 2003 08:54 AMAs recently as last summer, there were 'no plans' to invade Iraq, either.
Let's just see where the next couple of months take things before we start analyzing these relatively opaque statements.
Posted by Matt Davis at April 15, 2003 09:43 AMI hope there will be no war agaisnt Syria, but if there is not, it won't be because Bush doesn't want one. He wants one because Rummy, Cheney, Perle, Wolfie, Woolsey,Krystol et al want one & they told him he wants one too. He's already dusting off his rhetoric. Its one size fits all as far as he is concerned "Bin Laden, Hussein, Assad--same accusations different name. Besides, he really likes war. The jazz he got from killing all those people on death row in Texas was nothing compared to what he's feelin now. [Visualize W pumping his fist in the air exclaiming "feel good."]
Just because someone told Rummy & the Neocons [sounds like a 60's do whop group] to stop planning, doesn't mean they did. They never listen to him. They just pat him on the shoulder patronizingly & resume their plotting. If Bush or Condi had any control over anyone, they wouldn't have said all the "we're taking over the world"things the've been saying the past month & not only would Perle be muzzled, he would be fired for real, not just shuffled to a less prominent seat at the table.
Posted by Hoosiercat at April 15, 2003 10:01 AMDeath and Destruction Market News
The Current market for US Death and Destruction is saturated.
High-ranking administration officials believe demand for USDD will peak again in spring 2005.
Two words: second term.
I think Syria's still a likely target, if Bush wins in '04.
Posted by Tom Slick at April 15, 2003 11:37 AMI think they're just waiting until a better time. I can't imagine they don't want to invade.
Posted by VAdem at April 15, 2003 12:44 PMperhaps it's because they're taking a break before restarting the Lie Machine, and that the plan is to gradually build things up so that we're at war with Syria durng the next presidential election.
Posted by paul at April 15, 2003 01:49 PMHonestly, I believe Bush doesn't want to take out Syria. Like you though, it beats the hell out of me why he doesn't.
Posted by MattS at April 15, 2003 02:32 PMDubya's brain is tired. He needs a Crawford vacation before he can even think of ordering the deaths of thousands more people.
Posted by Matt Davis at April 15, 2003 03:45 PMGumby Freedom Specialist
The cast:
T.F. GUMBY
Saddam Hussein
GUMBY FREEDOM SPECIALIST
George Bush
GUMBY GENERAL
Don Rumsfeld
The sketch:
(Close up on a sign saying 'Petroleum Palace Boulevard'.
Stirring music. Mix through to interior of a smart, plush, ever so expensive Petroleum Palace Boulevard executive suite. The music swells and fades.
Knocking at door, a short pause, then T.F. Gumby enters, backwards.)
T. F. Gumby: General! General! General! (he goes up to the antique desk and bangs the bell violently; he smashes the intercom and generally breaks the desk up) General! General! General! General! General! General! Where is the General?
(A pause. Then another door opens and another Gumby appears.)
Freedom Specialist: Hello!
T. F. Gumby: Are you the Freedom Specialist?
Freedom Specialist: Hello!
T. F. Gumby: Are you the Freedom Specialist?
Freedom Specialist: No, no, I am not the Freedom Specialist. No, no, I am not... Yes. Yes I am.
T. F. Gumby: My liberty needs oil!
Freedom Specialist: Well let's take a look at it, Mr Gumby.
(Gumby specialist starts to pull up Gumby's sweater.)
T. F. Gumby: No, no, no, my liberty in my land.
(Freedom Specialist thumps him on the head)
Freedom Specialist: You will have to come out.
T. F. Gumby: Out? Of my land?
Freedom Specialist: Yes! All the best for it. Uncle Dick! Uncle Dick! (Uncle Dick enters) Uncle Dick, take Mr Gumby to a Freedom Specialist.
Uncle Dick: Yes Governor...
(He leads Mr. Gumby out. In the background the Freedom Specialist is grunting and shouting.)
Freedom Specialist: Where's the 'football'?
Uncle Dick: (to T. F. Gumby) He's brilliant you know.
Freedom Specialist: Where's the bloody 'football'? My liberty needs oil too!
(Humvee racing. 'Patton' theme. Cut to the Pentagon. The General is not a Gumby.)
General: (putting on Gumby props) Guns ... aviator glasses... helicopter... CBN suit... (Gumby voice) I'm going to invade!!
(We now see he is surrounded by Media Gumbys. T. F. Gumby is on his own in the middle.)
All: Let's invade.
(They begin to use smart bombs on T. F. Gumby.)
T. F. Gumby: Hello!
General: Ooh! We forgot the Shock and Awe!
Media Gumbys: The Shock and Awe! The Shock and Awe!
(At that moment a Gumby B-2 comes roaring through the sky with two bunker busters.)
Gumby B-2: I've come to liberate you!!
(He drops a bunker buster and strikes Gumby hard on the head with it. Bong. Blackness.)
Posted by Mrs. Iraqi Baeter at April 15, 2003 04:26 PMoh, he'll go for syria all right.
this is just more of that "bush is depressed, he's not sleeping well" kind of thing.
he'll go after syria, but it will be "with a heavy heart"
oh, & where's condi?
Posted by n69n at April 15, 2003 11:27 PM