Rope-a-Dope Continues

Man with “glazed eyes,”
“walking like Frankenstein,”
smashes store’s TVs with hammer.

Osama bin Laden’s “rope-a-dope” strategy continues to work. He must have studied at the feet of Muhammed Ali, the originator of this procedure. You remember that in Ali’s case, he allowed George Foreman to pound away at him on the ropes until Foreman exhausted himself, and then attacked and won the fight. Osama seems to have adapted this to the broader international scene through the use of economics rather than fists. You will recall that Osama made it clear that at least one of his goals was to provoke the U.S. into fighting terrorism long enough to bankrupt itself. He has been enormously successful, far more successful than even he could have dreamed. Imagine his pleasure as he saw us enter Afghanistan and start a “war” to find him. And his glee must have been overwhelming when Bush began the even bigger “war” in Iraq. You might have thought that a smart Chicago politician would have figured this out by now, but President Barack O’Bonehead has decided to keep pummeling away with another 30 or more billion of wasted funds, and 30,000 or so more troops (neither of which he can afford) and will apparently never stop until we are, at last, officially bankrupt. This may be unfair of me, as Obama has not yet given his speech in which he is to explain his strategy and (presumably) claim some sort of exit from Afghanistan. I am not sanguine about his possibilities as he is yet to exit Iraq or Guantanamo, and I strongly suspect that what he wishes to accomplish in Afghanistan is quite likely impossible. That is, if he thinks he is going to reform Karzai and Afghan corruption, create a large and efficient Afghan army (that would require a budget larger than the national income), and leave the country able to manage its own affairs in some form of democratic way without spending the next century, I think he is daydreaming. Actually, I suspect these are not really the goals he has in mind. It is more likely we are still planning to somehow build Cheney’s pipeline to avoid Russia, but this is no longer mentioned in public.

And speaking of Cheney, what I have always feared would happen is happening. Or perhaps I should say what should happen is not happening. Dick Cheney (aka Dick the Slimy) is a known, even admitted, war criminal, along with his former Presidential puppet, George W. Bush. There is no doubt about this. The world knows it, and I cannot believe that President Obama and the Attorney General are not aware of it. They do seem to be unaware that our constitution and laws demand that war criminals be prosecuted (I don’t believe they are unaware of this either). Cheney himself, who has to realize he is vulnerable, has cleverly embarked on a strategy that pits him politically against the Obama administration with respect to Afghanistan (and most everything else). This should not really spare him prosecution, but it does allow him (and his insane supporters) to claim that if he is prosecuted it would be for purely political reasons (there is nothing political about it, it’s about war crimes). This does make it awkward for Obama and Holder, but it should not really prevent justice from being done. Their excuse for ignoring the law about prosecuting war criminals, up until now at least, is that they are too busy trying to save our country from bankruptcy, health care reform, global warming, and, I guess, the cookie monster. This latest escalation of troops for Afghanistan may render all of these reasons moot, as Osama bin Laden may finally realize his dream of having bankrupted us (at the very least this may kill any attempt at health care reform, as it is obviously more important to fund a fake and unnecessary “war” for no purpose than to provide health care for American citizens). Perhaps should this happen, Obama might turn his attention to what should have been a priority in the first place, demonstrating to the world that we do not coddle war criminals, even when they are our own. Don’t hold your breath.

And what of Tiger Woods? No one really knows. I think he was fighting with his wife about a rumored affair, she chased and hit him with a golf club, followed his car with the club as he tried to leave, broke out the back window and then, realizing she had caused the crash, was overcome with remorse and helped him out of the wreck. Do I know this to be true. Of course not, but what does that have anything to do with the “news?” For all I know President Obama called him and said, “Tiger, old buddy, do something dramatic to take over the news for a few days, people aren’t going to like my escalation in Afghanistan.” Or perhaps Tiger was so euphoric over becoming the first athlete to make a billion dollars he thought he could drive with no hands and without looking. Maybe he was trying to reach the beach so he could practice walking on water. He might have had a date with his (probably imaginary) “mistress.” Who knows, who cares, case closed, play golf, guys fight with their wives all the time.

LKBIQ:
Justice delayed, is justice denied.
William Gladstone

TILT:
Dubai’s tallest freestanding building, Burj Dubai, at 2,684 feet, is the tallest man-made building ever built on planet earth.