What?

Regardless of what the White House is saying, the neo-conservative American Enterprise Institute probably will be the source of the "new direction" in Iraq. We are all waiting for the presumed January 2007 announcement of the new Iraq plan.

As Bush has followed the neo-conservative agenda for the past 6 years, why would he change agendas now? Particularly since change does not seem to be part of his mental makeup.

So the plan is already laid out at the American Enterprise Institute in pdf format.

Choosing Victory A plan for Success in Iraq

The A.E.I. group is calling itself the Iraq Planning Group. Could you have a least changed the name a little bit from the Iraq Study Group.This is specifically designed to confuse people. Bush will tell the public that he is implementing plans from the Iraq Planning Group knowing that people will think he means the Iraq Study Group.

Read the study for yourself. But here are a few bullet points directly from the A.E.I. followed by my comments:

Failure in Iraq will likely lead to:
–Widespread regional conflict
–Humanitarian catastrophe
–Terrorist sanctuaries
–Further radicalization of the Muslim World
–Loss of American credibility globally
–Damage to the morale of the U.S. military

(Comment: The claim is that failure in Iraq will lead to these things. With all do respect, initiating the war has created these things. They already exist. The initial policy to invade Iraq was wrong and led to these things. Its already there! Perhaps the policy is wrong. Incidentally why does the morale of the U.S. military take precedence over the lives and wishes of the Iraqis themselves? Notice that the Iraqis are not even mentioned. The Iraqis in overwhelming majorities and in poll after poll express the desire for US troops to leave Iraq now.)

Proposal: Victory through Security

(Comment: Every pageant needs a word logo. Peace through Strength, Victory with Honor, etc etc. Here is the new logo "Victory through Security." And here I have been calling it "Democracy through War." Personally my logo is more accurate, and fittingly absurd.)

Reconstruction Is Essential
• The U.S. must increase reconstruction aid for Iraq
–The Commander’s Emergency Response Program must be funded at high levels
–Reconstruction packages must be supplied to all cleared neighborhoods
–Military commanders should receive authority to disburse reconstruction funds and oversee the execution of reconstruction programs
–The President must require all relevant agencies to accomplish assigned reconstruction tasks

(Comment: this explains the recent article on Bush's New Deal for Iraq with $10 Billion for jobs in Iraq.)

We Are At War
• Success requires a national commitment
• Some military units will be deployed for longer tours
• Military industry must be mobilized to make up equipment shortages
• Equipment, not people, is the pacing factor for rapid deployment, but Army depots are only operating at 50% of capacity!

(Comment: There is no national commitment for this occupation. Reality is not part of the neo-conservative mentality. Are they suggesting increased psy ops against the American public through more propaganda? Also, military units have been given unbelievably bad tours, with several tours for some, extended tours, now these guys want more of that. Good luck, considering the rate at which the military itself is rejecting the war. In January you will see a "redress" before Congress where thousands of G.I.s will present a signed protest to Congress about the legality and validity of the Iraq occupation. And let's not forget to give lots of props to the old Military Industrial Complex. What Wall Street Journal lover wouldn't like this? After all isn't a large part of the war effort to keep those weapons producers hopping?)