by James Glaser
October 8, 2003

Yesterday three more Americans were killed in Iraq and who knows how many were wounded. It seems we don't count the number of Americans wounded now either.

President Bush has decided to give control over all of our operations in both Afghanistan and Iraq to Condoleezza Rice, his National Security Advisor. The White House claims that this move is being made to "quell violence in Iraq and speed up reconstruction in both countries."

For weeks now the Bush administration has been telling the American people that we are not getting the true picture of Iraq and things are going better than we think. To be honest, if things were going better in Iraq, less Soldiers would be getting killed and wounded. If things were better in Iraq we would stay the course and keep L. Paul Bremer III in charge.

This is a real dressing down of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, as Iraq was his War to run and President Bush gave him as much time as he could, but there is an election coming up next year and Ms. Rice's number one job, is to make George look good. Troops getting killed every day and the continued spending of billions every month does not get you a second term.

Ms. Rice, along with Rumsfeld, Bremer, Dick Cheney, and President Bush, has no military background or experience, nor does her expertise lie in the field of Nation Building. Here is the key to why Ms. Rice has been given this job. "Anna Perez, Ms. Rice's communications director, will focus on a coordinated media message---a response to concerns about the daily reports of attacks on Americans and lawlessness in the streets.

George Bush through Condoleezza Rice is going to take personal charge of what is going on in his War. The message to the American public must be that things are looking up. George's poll numbers are falling and something has to be done. Nothing like getting the Iraqi people clean drinking water or around the clock electricity, but better films on the nightly news showing little Iraqi kids in school or maybe some thing about the Iraqi soccer team. Americans love sports.

Tuesday it was announced that Turkey will be sending troops to Iraq. This doesn't mean that some Americans will be coming home. No, what it means is that Turkey and the Bush administration have agreed on the terms for our eight billion dollar "loan" to them.

Americans will continue to die and those plane loads of wounded will continue to land every night in Maryland, but Condi Rice will be announcing new projects every couple of days. Osama, Saddam, and Mulla Omar will continue to plot against us, but George will continue to refuse to say their names in public.

George is gambling and if he hits it big with a capture of one of these three or he can start a new war some place else like Syria, he can get that second term. Ms. Rice will be doing her best to keep a lid on both Iraq and Afghanistan. Orders will be going out to all Commanders in the field, to do what ever it takes to stop our troops from getting hurt. Washington is looking for "feel good stories," showing our troops with smiling Iraqis.

This is going to be a White House, Full Court Press and they are going to make this a "good war" no matter what.