WHICH WILL IT BE?

I thought this was going to be difficult.

Last night, when everyone seemed so "taken" with the blissful stupidity of the ISG, I thought I was going to have to compose The Master Essay, dissecting this tripe, paragraph by paragraph, in order to make my points...it was to be a lonely task, it seemed.

But, Lo, the Blogosphere Awakens....there are dozens more skilled writers than I and all in high dudgeon...so all I have to do is to quote them.

Start here: "There's 79 recommendations in the Baker Report. It's like the Howard Johnsons' of Crap."

There's a Lot to Loathe in the Baker Report

But this conjoined pair of 'Recommendations' floats right to the top of the Surrender cesspool.

RECOMMENDATION 31: Amnesty. Amnesty proposals must be far-reaching. Any successful effort at national reconciliation must involve those in the government finding ways and means to reconcile with former bitter enemies.

RECOMMENDATION 37: Iraqi amnesty proposals must not be undercut in Washington by either the executive or the legislative branch.

It would seem that to the cardboard cut-outs that fashioned this chunk of crap that the criminals who have been building bombs and shooting our soldiers must, for "the sake of the children," "world peace," or the end of Israel, or some such, be let to just walk away. What's more, Baker expects everyone to agree to this going in. No override from the executive or the legislature.

Let's just suppose we, at some time in the far distant future, really do get out of Iraq. In the process, some group of criminals takes aim at a departing brigade and slaughters them by fair means or foul?

I guess that would be, from Baker's perspective, just dumb luck filed under "Shit happens."

That's the problem with all these pabulum reports and swatches of smarm oozing out of our "corridors of power" these days. There is simply no will to put some power in the proposals. Cardboard souls in empty skulls just wishing and hoping that somehow the party years will return and the American Happy World will roll along. As well it might.

For today. For, maybe, tomorrow.

But we all know, deep down, we're just waiting for the day of the bomb.

But Wait! Order now, and we'll send this for free:

The Baker Commission is uniquely a creature of our times. What other era could produce an endeavor whose sole purpose is to develop policy not with regard to how effective it will be but with the goal of uniting us behind it, be it wrong or right? What other era could be so capable of such an over-arching, supreme and self-destructive narcissism?

Now our nation must turn its lonely eyes to President Bush. He can embrace the Report and win plaudits from the New York Times editorial board. Who knows? Maybe his approval ratings can once again approach 50%. He can unite us. Of course, he’ll unite us behind a series of policy prescriptions that will lead to disaster. Hey - it worked for Clinton. Sort of.

Or the President can at last engage in a long overdue moment of honesty with his countrymen and then follow his rhetoric with appropriate action. He can say that Iran has been at war with us for 27 years, even though we’ve yet to deign to fight back. He can say that Iran’s proxies and clients like Hezbollah and Syria have no interest in peaceful co-existence with us or any other Western-style powers. He can cay that the only way through this is to defeat the enemy, not delude ourselves with a false sense of security while we celebrate fraudulent diplomatic triumphs.

He can tell us that there are hard days ahead, but not for any of the reasons that noted consensus-builder Lee Hamilton acknowledges. And he can use the last two years of his time in office getting the military and the country ready for the challenges that can’t be avoided.

Or he can sign on to the feel-good consensus that the Iraq Study Group prescribes. And we can join hands at last, wingnut and moonbat alike, as we stroll happily off into the sunset. And the abyss.

But, amazing as it sounds, there's more!

• Syria’s full adherence to UN Security Council Resolution 1701 of August 2006, which provides the framework for
Lebanon to regain sovereign control over its territory.

• Syria’s full cooperation with all investigations into political assassinations in Lebanon, especially those of Rafik
Hariri and Pierre Gemayel.

• A verifiable cessation of Syrian aid to Hezbollah and the use of Syrian territory for transshipment of Iranian weapons and aid to Hezbollah. (This step would do much to solve Israel’s problem with Hezbollah.)

• Syria’s use of its influence with Hamas and Hezbollah for the release of the captured Israeli Defense Force
soldiers.

• A verifiable cessation of Syrian efforts to undermine the democratically elected government of Lebanon.

All conducted under the watchful eyes of Unicorns, of course. Imagine a government report on organized crime, demanding the following:

* The Mafia’s full adherance to the RICO and IRS statutes concerning independent contractors, including but not limited to Social Security contributions, FICA regulations, as well as compliance with state and federal laws concerning murder, extortion and kidnapping

* The Mafia’s full cooperation with all investigations into the deaths of Artie “Two Sheds” Palini, Ricky “The Squid” Piscatori, Jackie the Gaspipe, Tommy Shoes, and 16,302 others

* A verifiable cessation of Mafia contributions to local law enforcement officials

* The Mafia should use its influence with the Russian and Irish mobs to find out what the hell happened to that poor guy who wandered into the back room when they were all having a sit-down

* A verifiable cessation of Mafia efforts to undermine and circumvent the laws in the states of New Jersey, New York, Ohio and Chicago, as well as Nevada and portions of Kansas City which Johnny Mook swears he has no control over, but some of those hits just have his style written all over them

If those things are done, well, the price of garbage hauling in selected municipalities might decrease. But I wouldn’t count on them happening, and I certainly wouldn’t argue that we should give the Mafia Staten Island in the hopes some age-old territorial grievance will be settled for good.

Sweeeet! This blogging stuff is like fallin' of a log.