What if??

As Madam Speaker continues her whirlwind Surrender Tour/mini-coup (along with several other culprits, including Republicans) a few questions come to mind.

For instance, upon returning from this fact-finding mission will the Speaker share any of her found facts with Bush or Rice? Michael Hayden? Bob Gates? Or, will she first share them with reporters or partisan hacks in her party for political gain?

White House spokesperson Dana Perino says the Speaker should consider the message she's sending on behalf of America, which is true, but she fails to understand that Pelosi's trip is likely designed to do just that--send a message.

The message is that a new American sheriff is in control, but this one is kinder and gentler and determined to dialogue "a way out" of this mess. Yes, the dimwitted, evil fascists are still there but their power has been put into a vise. And that's basically it.

How will the Arab street see it? Open arms? Will they break into "teach the world to sing" and hand Pelosi a coke? Rather not, they'll probably see Bush's inability to stop a woman from coming as a signal his authority is fast crumbling. The Iranian hostage drama is early proof.

Not to be overly melodramatic, but the upcoming year might well be pivotal in American history. The pressure to sweep away Iraq will become intense as the primaries approach and debate begins. Obviously none of the candidates, even the Republicans, have a desire to talk about it during the primaries and none of them relish the idea of exiting the starting gate with an Iraqi boat anchor attached to their hip. One reason for Pelosi's visit might be to "fact find" the best way to get this problem off Hillary's plate for 08, which would be scary, if true.

Bush is damned either way. Congress and the media will squeeze him with every veto. Democrats will continue similar stunts designed to pave the way for withdrawal, perhaps even going as far as brokering deals with shadowy entities in return for the prospect of a more capitulationist White House. Assuming the Decider gets painted into a corner and has to redeploy (perhaps impossible without impeachment) what would the surrender world look like?

It's hard to say, but an initial withdrawal might not be chaotic. The various elements could perhaps be made to stand down as we exit stage left, although there's no way the Arab or Democrat propaganda machines would remain duct taped. That horrible scene would be act one.

Act two would represent the post-retreat phase. Many experts (sans Zbigniew) believe the sectarian factions would fight their way to supremacy, helped by neighboring states. That might work for a place like say Madagascar, but in a place with 2/3rds of the world's oil, not so good. Consider how involved Iran is right now and just multiply it by a factor of a lot.

Saudi Arabia has already threatened to get involved if we leave and we know al Qaeda would call for more Mujahideen, not less. The world and UN would likely sit by and watch thousands slaughtered with millions forming caravans and heading towards the nearest border crossing. With that would come much human suffering, no doubt.

AND IT WOULD ALL BE GEORGE W. BUSH'S FAULT. Just like Katrina was.

All the deaths, all the misery, all the starvation, all the crying babies, all the robberies on the highway and the breakdown of schools--Bush's fault. Emergency services/hospital system collapse--Bush's fault. Chaos spilling into neighboring countries--Dubya. Gone would be the cries from Schumer, Reid, and Sheehan about warmongering, they would be replaced with war criminal.

The only way out for Bush is to somehow win, but that's becoming increasingly unsure. He has no other option. Of course, "he" represents America, not Pelosi, so his loss would be our loss. All the after-effects, stuff like 5 dollar per gallon gas, terrorist attacks on our soil, or possibly a breakdown of the coalition in Afghanistan might be side-effects from a pullout. The final fall out would be years of liberal leadership.

I know America is burned out on war. Most of us just want to pursue our happiness and ignore the big pink elephant sitting in the room getting in the way of basketball or talent shows. As more time passes we'll be tempted to hire somebody to remove the elephant, perhaps in a quick and dirty way, and only God knows how that might affect our children. We seem to be left with only a wing and prayer. Good thing Bush believes in prayer.