A benchmark is a brass medallion usually imbedded in a concrete bridge abutment, the foundation of a building or a specially poured concrete marker. It gives the elevation in relation to sea level and is used by surveyors to determine a precise elevation before the start of a job of surveying. It will say something like - Elevation 660 Feet.
The first thing the surveyor must do, before he starts the job, is locate the benchmark. It is the basic reference point for all that comes after and is the point on which the validity of the job depends. If a surveyor doesn't first find the benchmark, the resulting job will be meaningless, a waste of time and effort.
After four years of his war in Iraq, George Bush is just now looking for the benchmarks. They've been there all along and are still there now, and they still say the same things. They say such things as - Chaos, Destruction, Death, Civil War, Sectarian Violence, Lots of Innocent Civilian Deaths, Lots of US Soldier's Deaths.
There has never been an Iraqi benchmark that says Democracy.
Bush was told about these benchmarks before he started his war, but he didn't believe they existed. But they were there. They are still there. Everyone in the world, except George Bush, can see them. He's looking at those Iraqi benchmarks and still refusing to believe what they say. And, like a surveyor who doesn't first find his benchmark, Bush's job in Iraq is a waste of lives, time, effort and money.
