The Omnipotent Poobah Speaks!

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President Bush’s diplomafacatin’ negotiators have been working on a new status of forces agreement with Iraq. The negotiations have, for the most part, been behind closed doors - both US and Iraqi. These negotiations also show El Jefe’s deep commitment to the concept of negotiating - “I’ll tell ya what ya’ll rascals will do and you go on ahead and approve it. Now ’scuse me while I go fer a vacation.”

Back when the Iraqis were sporting purple thumbs, George was quick to point out that elections were leading to a thriving democracy in the Middle East. We don’t hear as much of that talk anymore, partially because the violence continues apace and partially because the notion of Iraq as a democracy is such a joke even this normally brazen administration can’t make it look otherwise.

Of course, the negotiations wouldn’t be a Bush operation without the administration thumbing its nose at both the US and Iraqi constitutions. In the case of the US, Dub wants to fore-go the normal constitutional process whereby Congress votes on a treaty. Obviously, this doesn’t sit well with Congress, or a good percentage of the electorate, so his defense is just to declare the treaty isn’t really a treaty at all. He knows that by the time the legal challenges and investigations wrap up, he’ll be cutting Texas cottonwoods and the next president will be cursing his worthless hide for tying his hands.

He likes the bragging rights of democracy, but he’s no more respectful of the Iraqi constitution and sovereignty than of ours. The Iraqis want limits on how long the infidels can stay. They want veto rights for military operations launched from the 53 bases US war profiteers have gouged out of the US treasury and the Iraqi desert. There are problems with how the country can divvy up its oil and who is going to pay for a reconstruction that will last for years. Then there’s the relentless violence - always the violence.

Here’s a clear example of how Bushonian democracy works. After several Blackwater mercenaries killed a group of Iraqis a few months back, Iraq demanded justice. The administration claimed American prosecutions weren’t covered by the laws we wrote and spirited the mercenaries out of the country before the Iraqis could get their hands on them. The Iraqis then demanded Blackwater be banished from the country. Unsuprisingly, the administration’s response was to give Blackwater an extended contract and do it without even consulting their sovereign partner in the War of Error^TM.

That’s a helluva way to run a democracy.

Democracies are only as good as their constitutions and how well they adhere to them. By that measure, neither the US nor Iraq is a thriving democracy. George has gutted the US Constitution like a catfish for a Texas fish fry and the Iraqis fall over every time they stand up to hammer out a finished constitution. All we seem to have gotten out of this shit storm is a couple million purple thumbs and the steady erosion of the levees designed to protect US civil rights and Iraqi sovereignty.

I don’t know about you, but those leaking levees are making me feel about as secure as a Katrina victim.

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The Poobah is a featured contributor at Bring It On!

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