The Bush Administration Vs. The World

Once again we are witnessing a monumental 'asleep at the wheel' moment by the American mainstream media. Every headline/radio story/TV news story about the Bush Administration plan to escalate the Iraq War that I have seen in the past week has said something like, "The President wants a 'Surge'; The Democrat-controlled Congress does not."

While true, it is also grossly misleading. Such a formulation makes this disagreement appear like partisan politics as usual. It is not partisan politics as usual.

The headlines should read, "The President wants The Surge; The rest of the world does not."

The fact is the Baker-Hamilton Iraq Study Group, the President of Iraq, the American people, Congressional Republicans capable of independent thought, and seemingly everyone else besides the Bush Administration and FOX News...are all against this criminally foolish 'plan.'

"It's Alice in Wonderland," Sen. Chuck Hagel, second-ranking Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee, told me in describing the proposed surge. "I'm absolutely opposed to sending any more troops to Iraq. It is folly." And this is according to Bush apologist and Plamegate principal, Robert Novak!

The distinction between Bush vs. Democrats as opposed to Bush vs. The World is an important one. It points out that The Bush Administration is going against the opinion of a the vast majority of the American people. It points out that the Bush Administration is going against the opinion of the intelligence community (they can't even 'cherry-pick' quotes to support this plan!) . It also points out that, once again, Bush Administration policy is in direct conflict with that of the vast majority of the rest of the world. Finally, admitting this distinction removes the idea that this is a partisan issue. It is not. It is the Bush Administration against The World, and for a nice change, this time The World includes US public opinion.