Some small items in "Bush's Plan" worry me ...

You know? I wasn't nearly so worried about the overall numbers going up (by roughly 22,000) as I am by the manner in which they will be fighting and the long-term prospects of youngsters being "embedded" in/with Iraqi "friendly" forces.

President Bush's speech to us all on Wednesday night on his escalation plan for the Iraq Civil War was probably the worst speech I've ever seen him give -- and he's given some pretty bad ones over the years. Of course, it will probably win him a little time, which was the best he could have hoped for anyway in the current political and military situation. Watching it over the heads of my "students" (long story) made it difficult to fully digest and understand at the time, and I simply thought that it was a poor speech, but of little import, even if another 20,000 of our military would be living in the Green Zone.

That was what I thought moments after we turned off the telly and returned to listening to red-neck music from the radio in the high window at the back of the classroom.

It was only during the long ride home afterwards when I listened to most of the "talk" a second time that the tactical nature of our future in Iraq hit me. "Patriot Missiles" did he say? And what about the increased exposure of the new combat troops to actual "combat" in Baghdad? Are we planning on taking on the Sunni warriors in Baghdad and environs at the same time we are combating the Shiite militias?

Whoa!

And why did he have to poke a finger in the Iranians' eyes (and the Syrians' too, of course) while discussing "negotiating with Saudi Arabia, the UAE and others of our "friends" close by Iraq? Hmmm ... maybe that explains his mentioning Patriot [sic] Missiles ... Forgetting for the moment just who are friends are in the Middle East, aren't "negotiations" all about talking with our enemies? And oh yes, my brother Richard in Connecticut constantly reminds me that the term "Middle East" is becoming harder and harder to define as the Iraq Civil War drags on.

The speech wasn't just poor from the point of view of its delivery (as is suggested by the grainy photograph of a television screen above) ... it was downright dangerous ... actually scary, I think.

Maybe we really should be thinking about impeachment this soon--at least in the recesses of our subconscious minds.

Then again, all that being said, I guess we should give this latest "direction" a chance, to the extent it is a really new direction ... as long as Congress keeps closer track of what's happening in the months ahead than they have in the past.