As the American public becomes more and more aware of just how colossal a mistake the invasion and occupation was, the neo-conservative architects of Operation Iraqi Cluster-fuck are beginning to bail out on the administration. They are never going to admit that it was a bad idea to begin with, so the most common excuse is that it was a good plan, poorly executed. As they pile on Rumsfeld to try to distance themselves from the mess, the war is becoming dubya's alone. It is going to define his presidency even more than the first Gulf War defined his father's, and I find that very fitting. According to former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, Iraq and tax cuts were pretty much all that was on dubya's mind when he came into office. He was otherwise disengaged on all domestic issues. That's how people like heckuva job Brownie ended up running our government. And since ending every speech with "Tax Cuts Good!" is how you get elected as a Republican, it's probably more of a reflex than an agenda. That means the only thing he was really focused on from the beginning was regime change in Iraq and he still won't let go of it. Here's a question. At what point does steely resolve become obtuse stubbornness?

I sometimes wonder why he clutches so tightly to this particular failed gambit. I'm pretty sure he's not motivated by the America as Empire theme the PNAC boys promulgate. He's just not that deep of a thinker. I suppose it could be that he likes to picture himself in the tough guy, wartime preznit role, but in the back of my mind I believe it's possible he's doing something that he feels his father should have done. Possible that it really could be as simple as just wanting to show up daddy.