DAYTRIPPERS

Listening to one Congressman after another speak glowingly of the “progress” they saw on the ground in Iraq as a result of the so-called “surge” – after a day trip to the Green Zone – reminds me of a story I’ve been telling for several years.

Around five years ago a friend of mine, Bob Phillips of “Texas Country Reporter” fame, got a phone call from some out-of-state developers who were planning to build what would become the Gaylord Texan Resort and Convention Center near Dallas in Grapevine, Texas. They asked if they could hire Bob for a half day to give them a “tour of Texas.” After choking for a few minutes to suppress hysterical laughter, Bob explained to them that to see Texas would take a bit more than a half day. It actually took them a week to visit such sights as the Alamo and Riverwalk in San Antonio, the Big Bend area, oil fields, etc. At the end of the week, Bob asked them, “Now what one thing have you observed that will help you design the resort?” and they correctly responded, “The lone star!” The lone star did, in actuality, become the leid-motif of the resort.

It should be noted that Bob largely served as tour guide and let the developers make their own observations (I don’t suggest that Bob didn’t spout considerable Texas history and culture along the way). He arranged the tour just as they requested, though he added a couple of spots that he thought they should see.

This was just research to help build a hotel, not to evaluate a war. It is not only naïve, but criminally ignorant, to suggest that a quick in-and-out daytrip wholly arranged and controlled by the Bush administration and its military enablers, qualifies a politician to make sweeping judgments about the success or non-success of U.S. strategy and tactics in the war in Iraq. And it’s just as silly of the media to repeat them.

BRING THEM ALL THE WAY HOME

The Sage has a young former co-worker to whom he's served as mentor, friend and counselor, who is serving in Iraq near Sadr City. George called him this week and they talked for nearly an hour. "What's he saying about the situation there?" I asked. "Does he see any improvement since 'the surge'? How's morale?"

Basically, George said that his squad is standing in the middle of a civil war with both opposing sides shooting at them. They were supposed to come home in two months, but the day that he called they were told that they'd be staying at least until August and maybe for six more months. Morale, he said, is pretty poor. They don't see what good they're doing, and they want to come home.

If Bush wants so much to "give the troops what they need," he should consider bringing them home from Iraq instead of sending more troops to serve as cannon fodder. He might also want to invest a little personal thought and labor in improving the situation at Walter Reed Hospital and the VA hospital system blinding-quick so that our homecoming troops could get the assistance they need in rebuilding the lives that his actions took from them.