Random Thoughts, Notes, & Incidents

"With 1,300 dead Iraqis - and counting - since the bombing of the Golden Dome last week, Iraq remains poised at the precipice of destruction..." So begins Robert Dreyfuss' essay, "Iraq: Preparing For The Worst" on tompaine.com. Dreyfuss discusses the latest failures of the Bush-Cheney policies in Iraq, and the un-likelihood of it being any better by the November '06 mid-term elections here in the U.S.

In fact, while Bush would like to have us believe that everything is under control, and that American troops will be coming home soon, the opposite is actually the truth. We'll be sending more troops to Iraq for the foreseeable future:
* General Mark Kimmitt, "There might be a need for more American forces."
* Pentagon quarterly report dated February 17, "Coalition force levels will increase, if necessary, to defeat the enemy."

And the violence in Iraq gets worse, against Americans and other Westerners, and against Iraqis. A Civil War, Shiite against Sunni against a dozen other factions is brewing. We've unleashed the Devil, and now we're caught in the middle of a Tornado trying to keep order. Other Arab nations, meanwhile, are contemplating coming to the aid of their Sunni brothers, or their Shiite brothers, or their own self-interests.

But maybe that's just what Bush and company wanted. A giant intra-Arab regional World War. Something to keep them busy killing each other, so that we can go about our business without worrying about them trying to kill us. Yes, that's the depths of skepticism, but what else is new?

How about a 50th Anniversary edition of George Orwell's Animal Farm, illustrated throughout in full-color glory by Ralph Steadman? I saw this over the weekend and was mightily impressed with Steadman's artwork. (Steadman is best known to many of us as the illustrator of choice for Hunter S. Thomspson's works.) This edition also includes other bonuses, including prefeces by Orwell from different editions. "Four legs good. Two legs bad."