Last week Jon Stuart summarized the on going intellectual discussion on Iraq in four options:
Go big – More troops (John McCain's way) Go long- Stay as long as it takes (George W's way) F*%K yourself – Do nothing (our current way) Redo it all – Imagine it never happened and start allover (the cocaine way)
We just had one of these amazing weeks, where you can save on your alcohol and drugs consumption and still dance half-naked to the tunes of Imagine by John Lennon.
The week started with the president's trip abroad. The leak of a report by the National Security Advisor to the president Steven Hadley questioning the Iraqi's prime minister ability and/or leadership.
The first meeting between the two leaders cancelled. The second meeting now becomes first and lasts for about two hours it is still a summit!
The fearless leaders stand confidently in front of the cameras, one is a decider; the second is a prime minister for a green zone!
The suspense builds up inside me, the adrenalin flow; they must have found the solution we are all looking for, it was only two hours, it must be genius, we should have asked for a summit long time ago!
The president announces that the prime minister is the man for the job; I wonder did he find the time to read his National Security Advisor report. I know he must read it, granted he is busy, I think to be a president you must be busy.
May be he did not read it, but at least Mr. Hadley read it to him. Did he understand the report?
Then our president talked about no graceful exit from Iraq, at this point I was very confused. I am not Yale graduate but I always thought graceful is good!
May be graceful is not as good as I thought, may be we should not leave gracefully, we want to send a message to somebody somewhere that we are not the graceful type!
After shaking my head few times all my doubts disappeared, I trust our president's judgment.
It was at that point of the conference when I heard the American leader states his position to pass more responsibility to Maliki. My fourteen years old continuously asks for more responsibility what she really means is more freedom to do whatever she wishes.
I usually make the point that there are rules in life and unless we follow the rules, our bosses will punish us, our local police will book us, and if we are unlucky and live in another country, we might be softened-up in Abu Gharib. My daughter usually walks off, wondering what got into me!
Maliki wants more responsibility and our president will hand it to him, which might be a good solution. After all, the prime minister look much older than my daughter does, and our president is a Yale graduate, our army can then come home!
NO, the president will give Maliki more training, and equipment for his army paid for by me, so he can get the job of slaughtering his Sunni's compatriots faster, at least they think so. Why should we care?
I am an Egyptian American born in Alexandria. I immigrated to the US in the late eighties, during this time lived in many places in US and Europe. I work as an IT manager and love it. I love to travel, it makes me feel young, and it awakes in me sense of adventure and curiosity. I love knowing people from different cultures; it never fails to amaze me how we all live in our little worlds that never meet. History is my second amazement, it always differ depending on who is winning, that leads me to my third hobby, politics is it history or human nature that is the culprit?
