Wednesday, October 27, 2004
From Fallujah To the Sea
No links on this one because it's just a Xan Prediction:
Bush doesn't have the balls to say so, but he would like to cast himself in the image of Abraham Lincoln.
--A president forced into a war by the actions of others (Fort Sumter/9-11).
--A president forced by the extremities of that war to take liberties with Constitutional rights (suspension of habeas corpus/Patriot Act)
--A resolute leader in a war seemingly without end, the reasons for which seem to shift as time goes on (preservation of the Union-->abolition of slavery/search for weapons of mass destruction-->whatever today's excuse is)
Lincoln was up for reelection in 1864, opposed by the best-known commander of the war, Gen. George McClellan, who Lincoln had fired for failing to win in the East and who bore a grudge. McClellan repudiated the "Peace Plank" in his party's platform which called for a negotiated end to the fighting, and swore he would not allow the Union to be divided, but was widely perceived as the peace candidate. A certain attitude of "ABL" prevailed in many areas.
In the summer of '64 things looked grim. Grant was bogged down in Petersburg. Sherman was moving south but every time he tried an attack he got whupped, so it became a war of maneuver--edge around the enemy's flank until he retreated for fear of being cut off. As long as the Confederacy held the breadbasket of the Shenandoah Valley, the cattle herds of Florida, and the cities of Atlanta and Richmond, they were in reasonable shape to hold out through election day.
Lincoln expected to lose that election--until Atlanta fell. The "big mo" shifted. Now Sherman was marching for the sea, Sheridan was burning the Shenandoah, Petersburg became a cage for Confederate forces who could do nothing about either. Lincoln swept to a decisive victory.
Fast forward, because things move faster now. The "assault on Fallujah," which has been purported to start "any day now" for three weeks, will launch probably Friday, Saturday at the latest. And it will still be continuing on Election Day.
Just wanted to get that on the record. Not that I'm so cynical as to think BushCo would play games with lives and timing just to win an election or anything.
Bush doesn't have the balls to say so, but he would like to cast himself in the image of Abraham Lincoln.
--A president forced into a war by the actions of others (Fort Sumter/9-11).
--A president forced by the extremities of that war to take liberties with Constitutional rights (suspension of habeas corpus/Patriot Act)
--A resolute leader in a war seemingly without end, the reasons for which seem to shift as time goes on (preservation of the Union-->abolition of slavery/search for weapons of mass destruction-->whatever today's excuse is)
Lincoln was up for reelection in 1864, opposed by the best-known commander of the war, Gen. George McClellan, who Lincoln had fired for failing to win in the East and who bore a grudge. McClellan repudiated the "Peace Plank" in his party's platform which called for a negotiated end to the fighting, and swore he would not allow the Union to be divided, but was widely perceived as the peace candidate. A certain attitude of "ABL" prevailed in many areas.
In the summer of '64 things looked grim. Grant was bogged down in Petersburg. Sherman was moving south but every time he tried an attack he got whupped, so it became a war of maneuver--edge around the enemy's flank until he retreated for fear of being cut off. As long as the Confederacy held the breadbasket of the Shenandoah Valley, the cattle herds of Florida, and the cities of Atlanta and Richmond, they were in reasonable shape to hold out through election day.
Lincoln expected to lose that election--until Atlanta fell. The "big mo" shifted. Now Sherman was marching for the sea, Sheridan was burning the Shenandoah, Petersburg became a cage for Confederate forces who could do nothing about either. Lincoln swept to a decisive victory.
Fast forward, because things move faster now. The "assault on Fallujah," which has been purported to start "any day now" for three weeks, will launch probably Friday, Saturday at the latest. And it will still be continuing on Election Day.
Just wanted to get that on the record. Not that I'm so cynical as to think BushCo would play games with lives and timing just to win an election or anything.
