Thus Spake Zarabushtra ?tactic? strategy?

[rodeodance]

October 21, 2006 at 15:40:03

Thus Spake Zarabushtra

by Jayne Lyn Stahl

http://www.opednews.com


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Wouldn't it be nice if the news came with an expiration date, especially where the president's speeches, or should I say "proclamations," are concerned? Yes, proclamations is a better word for this commander-in-chief's utterances as he is no more open to debate than Napoleon was. Moreover, he is no more willing to talk truth, or negotiate with the American people than he is with the leaders of North Korea and Iran. Indeed, Mr. Bush seems to demonstrate an amazing ability to conveniently forget that he was elected, as well as that elected officials give news conferences, and not public declarations. Moreover, his habit of warping distinctions between terms like "prisoner of war" and "enemy combatant," "strategy" and "tactic" defies not only logic, but common sense.

So, for an administration whose claim to fame was pre-emptive, or offensive foreign policy to be on the defensive, and on the front page of the news almost as much as on the front lines of combat, is clearly not what they had in mind when they cooked up, along with Tony Blair, a pretext for invading, and occupying a sovereign state. And, indeed, if Abraham Lincoln is best remembered for the Emancipation Proclamation, future generations may best remember The Downing Street Memo when they think of the 43rd President of the United States.

And, talk about defying logic, how is it that, less than 24 hours ago in a "brief interview" with the Associated Press, Mr. Bush insisted he will not change "strategy" in Iraq, and about 4 hours later at a local CVS drug store, he said he would consider "if a change in tactics is necessary to combat the escalating violence." Is this doublespeak, or if White House Press Secretary Tony Snow gives his blessing to this distinction, does it hold up?

How is it that one can change "tactics" without changing strategy?Assuming, for a moment, that this is possible, would it be asking too much of this administration to insist that it be more specific as to what it means to change tactics, as well as what its current strategy in Iraq is? On October 17th, Senator Barbara Boxer wrote a letter to James Baker, chair of the Iraq Study Group, urging that they release the study group's recommendations for a change of course in Iraq, but this president has demanded that results of this independent assessment be put on hold until after the midterm election,

[C_U_L8R]

1. Bush says he has a "strategy"

but has failed to tell anybody what it is... if there is one at all.
Afterall, a strategy is just a plan.

[Kagemusha]

2. Yes, it's doublespeak. Bush previously didn't know the difference

Apparently Rove has taught it to him in the meantime.