reality-based educator

From CNN:

President Bush met with senior generals in Washington Saturday for face-to-face discussions on the war in Iraq.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld joined Gen. John Abizaid, the head of U.S. Central Command; Gen. Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs and, via videolink from Baghdad, Gen. George Casey, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, for the White House summit.

...

In his weekly Saturday radio address, broadcast after the meeting, Bush said the U.S. military's strategy on the ground is under constant review.

But he emphasized: "There is one thing we will not do: We will not pull our troops off the battlefield before the mission is complete."

Okay, but what is the mission these days? It's not the "flowering of democracy" thing anymore, since it has become increasingly obvious that the only thing flowering in Iraq these days is sectarian bloodshed.

It's not ridding Saddam of WMD's, since he didn't actually have any, or extracting revenge upon a 9/11 terrorist collaborator, since Saddam had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks.

It's not trying to make Iraq a more peaceful, less bloody place by removing a bloodthirsty dictator, since removing Saddam the Strongman has actually made the place a whole lot bloodier.

So what exactly is "the mission" these days? I mean, besides trying to use the WoT as a political cudgel against Democrats and other war critics?

And anyway, the political cudgel thing isn't working so well for Bush and company anymore.

I guess the only other mission Bush could be desperately trying to complete is the "SAVE HIS LEGACY" mission.

Which is kind of a joke, since his legacy is "THE PREZNIT WHO ATTACKED A COUNTRY THAT HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH 9/11 AND BOGGED THE UNITED STATES DOWN IN THE WORST FOREIGN POLICY DEBACLE SINCE VIETNAM, KILLING THOUSANDS OF AMERICANS, HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF INNOCENT IRAQIS AND SPENDING $500 BILLION IN THE PROCESS."

It's a helluva legacy. Not even the right-wing smear machine can rewrite that and blame it on Clinton.