From the American Conservative...

The War Party

Support for George W. Bush’s foreign policy now defines the GOP.

Litmus tests must go. That is the rallying cry of those who believe Republicans should drop their insistence that the party’s 2008 presidential candidate toe the line on taxes, abortion, guns, or immigration. Wartime, the argument goes, is no time for conservatives to demand ideological purity. Or, as Noemie Emery put it in an emblematic essay for The Weekly Standard, “in a time of national peril, the test is a luxury [conservatives] cannot afford.”

Judging from presidential preference polls, many Republicans appear to be listening. The current 2008 frontrunner, former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, is pro-choice and supports civil unions for gays, gun control, and a fairly permissive immigration policy. Until recently, he favored taxpayer funding of abortion and opposed the partial-birth abortion ban. In second place is Sen. John McCain, who voted against the Bush tax cuts, sponsored amnesty for illegal immigrants, championed a campaign-finance law that put restrictions on conservative groups ranging from the National Rifle Association to the National Right to Life Committee, and believes the federal government should referee professional boxing.

Together, they receive majority support among those who plan to vote in a Republican primary next year.

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In fact, it would be difficult to find a Republican who hews closer to the party line on Iraq than the two frontrunners. McCain is adamant that if U.S. forces were to withdraw, “the consequences would be chaos, genocide, and, sooner or later, we go back.” Or we end up with terrorism on our own soil: “If we come home, bin Laden and [deceased al-Qaeda leader] Zarqawi, they are going to follow us.”

Giuliani agrees. “When you listen to these debates in Congress, and you listen to the politicians debating, you sort of get the impression that they think we’re in control of whether we’re at war or not,” America’s Mayor explained to pundit Sean Hannity. “It doesn’t matter what we think. They’re at war with us. They want to come here and kill us.”

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Gus: what we are looking at here is fabulous con artistry from the GOP personnel who, supporting the Bush idiotic foreign policies, are trying to catch the few unguarded liberals (US liberals) who are still trembling like Autumn leaves in regard to terrorism. Sure, there were and are terrorists out there and there are measures to be taken to protect a nation. But most of the measures employed by the Bush administration, mostly in bad will and for greed, have gone way beyond what should have been done, Most policies have actually encouraged the fast growth of terrorism. Thus as we (the US and their minions) wage war against an elusive enemy by firing willy-nilly, we create more of it — a more compact and determined enemy that demands greater force and weaponry to eradicate. Not only that we (the US and their minions) often are unable to make a difference between innocent and insurgents (basically freedom fighters in a country where we should not be in)...

Tonight, our Clowner, on an ABC show, claimed something to the effect that delivering democracy in Iraq is a fair goal. Sure, sir, but democracy is the last thing that was on the mind of Americans when they stopped the majority of people rule, like it should always be in "democracies". Thus they have been fiddling with the explosive mix until it blows up in their face, or that of the Iraqi people, after having lit the fuse of "mission Freebomb " and "mission Accomplished".

Bush picks general as 'war tsar'

President George W Bush has named US Army Lieutenant General Douglas Lute to serve as the White House "war tsar" for Iraq and Afghanistan.

If confirmed by the Senate, Lt Gen Lute, 54, will take on the top role of coordinating policy in the unpopular war in Iraq.

A senior administration official said Lt Gen Lute would become Mr Bush's deputy national security adviser for Iraq and Afghanistan policy and implementation, a position that will carry a beefed-up role.

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Gus: good luck to the Lt Gen Lute. May his decorated beef-cake bring peace rather than more boom-boom... May he also be a good swimmer... He will need that to cross the rivers of US corruption and political BS...

US General David Petraeus is taking over as head of US Central Command.

He will have overall responsibility for military operations throughout the Middle East and much of Asia, including Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran.

Until recently, Gen Petraeus was commander of the US military in Iraq, and he was widely credited with the dramatic improvement in security there.

Iraq and Afghanistan are likely to dominate his agenda, says the BBC's defence correspondent Rob Watson.

In Iraq, Gen Petraeus will have to manage the eventual reduction of US forces, a process he has made clear that he does not favour rushing.

On Afghanistan, he has already commissioned a major review of US strategy, which is expected to emphasise the need for a wider regional solution and more outreach to the Taleban.

The extent of his future influence on US policy in the region will of course depend to some extent on who wins the presidential election, though both candidates are admirers, our correspondent says.

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