A friend just sent over this link to an article on MSNBC which talks about Bush’s latest “public relations drive” that is intended to sell the idea that he finally has a strategy on winning the war in Iraq. Wait a minute… Winning the war in Iraq? I thought “major combat operations have ended?” Forgive us, oh mighty one, if us Americans are less likely to believe you than we were the first time around.

If Bush has a strategy, it doesn’t seem to revolve around settling the situation in Iraq, or improving our standing in the world. It seems more like his strategy is to continue to spin the issue. Problem is, he’s selling a failed policy and no amount of spin in the world is going to change that at this point. Civil war in Iraq seems unavoidable, and the only use our continued presence would serve would be to fan the flames.

Bush also used the bully pulpit to continue to lob stones at Iran, saying that components from IEDs in Iraq were clearly from that country. I just don’t understand where Bush and Cheney think this whole war-of-words against Iran could possibly end up anywhere other than someplace we wouldn’t want to be? Do they think we have the military capability to launch yet another offensive in the Middle East?

I hope if they believe this, they read this article in Newsday that states a large percentage of potential recruits are “unfit” and not capable of being trained in today’s military. Part of the problem is the gradually aging average population of the United States, and apparently the other is the presence of tattoos.