Bush's new plan: more petrol...

George, planning is what you do BEFORE you take action. I think it was the Chinese General Sun Tzu who said “Let your plans be dark and as impenetrable as night...” Bush sure has the impenetrable bit down pat--sheesh.

I had to laugh at Condi Rice today having to channel the finer points of the English language with Senator Chuck Hagel who carelessly interpreted the increased number of troops to be an "escalation". Condi quickly informed him that it was really just an "augmentation". Yes Condi, and women have their breasts escalated.

In truth she probably didn't need to engage in this pointless wordsmithing with Chuck as she could easily have explained it as simply replacing the 22,000 troops wounded to date. Trust me, this is not a miracle of coincidence.

I'm also unconvinced that stationing more troops in Baghdad is going to help him reduce the alleged stream of arms crossing the Iran and Syrian borders in Iraq. Not even Saddam with the fourth largest army in the world was able to prevent Iranians from supplying weapons and support to the Kurds in the North until the Algiers Agreement in 1975 and he WAS in control of the country.

Personally, I believe he's been praying that Congress is going to say "no" so he can blame them for not giving him the support needed to finish the job. And if they do give him the money and he fails to deliver well he can blame them anyway because if they're too stupid to stop him then it's their own fault.

See, here's your real problem and it's not Bush or the shadowy executive skulking the corridors of the white House. The problem lies in the U.S system of a “unitary executive” or at least the current Republican administration’s interpretation of it anyway. Congress is denied any real debate and left to negotiate at the periphery of issues after they have already been decided ex parte by a small influential executive and an already isolated President. I think a court challenge is needed to clear this up once and for all.

Addressing comments to his detractors George Bush recently said: “Honorable people have different views, and they will voice their criticisms. It is fair to hold our views up to scrutiny. And all involved have a responsibility to explain how the path they propose would be more likely to succeed.”

That "path" George is diplomacy. It is the path every person in the free world was telling you to take but you were not listening then in 2003 and you're not listening still.