Bush League Tonight

The Times reports that tonight's presidential national address to the nation will feature Bush announcing some limited redeployment as a means of uniting the American people.

Absurd, the president is looking to buy some political time in the run-up to the 2008 elections.

"With lawmakers openly skeptical of his troop buildup, Mr. Bush will cast his plan for a gradual, limited withdrawal as a way to bring a divided America together — even as he resists demands from those who want him to move much faster," writes SHERYL GAY STOLBERG and STEVEN LEE MYERS.

Sidney Blumenthal at Salon notes that Bush will also take credit for successes against al-Qaida in Iraq that have enabled this withdrawal.

Al-Qaida in Iraq. Get used to that phrase, you'll hear "al-Qaida in Iraq" repeatedly tonight, though not the fact there was no al-Qaida in Iraq prior to the illegal invasion; the fact that al-Qaida in Iraq would summarily be kicked out when/if we leave, and that al-Qaida in Iraq does not have the capacity to strike America over here, and that al-Qaida is a loose confederation of whackos bearing the mantle of the man who did organize the 9/11 attacks.

And it's not an American withdrawal of any substance. Well over 100,000 troops can be expected to remain in Iraq for years under the Petraeus plan.

So, not counting the one of three Americans who still believe Saddam attacked us on 9/11 (Republican dead-enders), it is up to the public to infuse the Democrats with some spine.

As the Times reports:

When top Democratic leaders visited him at the White House this week, President Bush told them he wanted to “find common ground” on Iraq. But when the president said he planned to “start doing some redeployment,” the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, cut him off.
“No you’re not, Mr. President,” Ms. Pelosi interjected. “You’re just going back to the presurge level.”

That's a start.

This is all about Republican politics tonight; Iraq has long been irretrievably lost as a client oil state of the United States'. How many American troops and Iraqi civilians die and are maimed for life is not a consideration in Bush's world. We hope that it will be the main consideration with the American people.

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