(Note: Colonel Timothy Reese, a senior American military advisor in Iraq, deserves the nation's respect and gratitude for recently advising his "superiors" to expeditiously pull out of Iraq as a continued presence there would serve no benefit. Then somehow his report was leaked to the media. We can but surmise how Colonel Reese will be rewarded for his courage and integrity.)
Only an incurable cynic or a radical Republican could possibly be surprised when Colonel Reese is rewarded by the Obama administration for summoning the courage and integrity to speak truth to power.
In fact, there is a strong rumor that Colonel Reese's new assignment as OIC-NPGSC will not await the normal term of his Iraq tour of duty, but will be signed by Secretary Gates immediately upon his return from the beach on Monday morning.
For those unfamiliar with military protocol and its penchant for convenient acronyms, OIC-NPGSC stands for Officer-In-Charge-of-National-Parks-Grounds-and-Sanitation-Control. To those cynics still unimpressed, I would encourage that they need only to observe the decline in the pigeon population above and about the Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument that we can anticipate to become quite evident shortly after Colonel Reese takes command. Those still not impressed need only to count the letters in the official acronym. (Hint: the more the letters, the more the prestigious the post.)
A fringe benefit of Colonel Reese's new assignment is that he will no longer be obligated to produce strategic assessments that serve only to embarrass his superior officers and our political masters. And although the pigeon situation will not likely get the visibility it deserves on radical web sites, the legitimate media can be expected finally to credit the Colonel's demonstrated character and abilities in his new capacity with the exposure and credit they deserve.
And so my fellow progressives, we really must admit some gratitude and respect for the keen insights and beneficial perspectives of our military and political masters for assigning a presence of demonstrated capability, integrity and courage to (finally!) prune up our weekend signage and parade areas. Dare we hope that even the discreetly obscured though generously provided "free speech zones" are to be included?
In any event, after nine years of parading and sign waving, we now finally can expect some tangible progress in the form of trimmer grass and bushes and, hopefully, a diminishment of avian bombardment. This should make our next nine years of protest even more agreeable for everyone, and beyond then perhaps even more commodious and tastefully roped-off "free speech zones" for our children and succeeding generations....
....unless some troublemakers decide to come along and ruin it for everyone.
