Morning Report 11/30/05
Victory in Iraq!

I don't know exactly what George W. Bush is going to say in his supposedly major speech on the war later this morning at Annapolis, but the Soviet-style document the White House released ahead of it promises a radical departure from the current disastrous approach.

For one thing, the 35-page document is called "National Strategy for Victory in Iraq."

For another, it contains an appendix called "Organization for Victory: The Eight Strategic Pillars," of which the sixth pillar is "Help Iraq Strengthen the Rule of Law and Promote Civil Rights." That pillar carries this epigraph:

"One of the most important ways to fight terrorism is to promote democracy, and one of the most important ways to promote democracy is the rule of law."
-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, July 2005

Finally, the "rule of law." This has to be a new direction, because Gonzales is the same guy who advised flouting the Geneva Conventions and who I pointed out last January 5 had approved the torture technique of "water-boarding" when he was Bush's White House counsel.

This is the same guy who, when Bush was the hangingest governor in U.S. history, spent as little time as possible going over pleas of clemency with the careless, inattentive Bush.

If you need any more evidence that the beleaguered Bush regime has hunkered down in its bunker in a paralyzingly bureaucratic survival mode full of Soviet-style jargon saying the opposite of what it actually does, check out the table of contents of the White House's "Victory in Iraq" doc:

Table of Contents

Executive Summary…1

PART I
Strategic Overview

Victory in Iraq Defined…3
Victory in Iraq is a Vital U.S. Interest…4
The Benefits of Victory in Iraq…4
The Consequences of Failure…5
Our Enemies and Their Goals…6
The Strategy of Our Enemies…7
Our Strategy for Victory is Clear…7
A. The Political Track (Isolate, Engage, Build)
B. The Security Track (Clear, Hold, Build)
C. The Economic Track (Restore, Reform, Build)
This Strategy is Integrated, and its Elements are Mutually Reinforcing…9
Victory Will Take Time…10
Why Our Strategy Is (and Must Be) Conditions-Based…11
Our Strategy Tracks and Measures Progress…12

PART II
Strategy in Detail

The Political Track in Detail…14
The Security Track in Detail…18
The Economic Track in Detail…22
Organization for Victory…25

APPENDIX
The Eight Pillars…27

I really like "Clear, Hold, Build." But my favorite is "This Strategy is Integrated, and its Elements are Mutually Reinforcing."

I can't wait to hear Comrade Bush explain those "elements."

As for Gonzales's quote about the "rule of law," I guess it's not really an epigraph, because it appears at the bottom of the sixth "pillar." Call it an epitaph.