Deadlines

There is nothing worse to the Bush administration than missing deadlines. They have a fetish about it. Going back to 2000, the post-election argument rested entirely on the idea that if they missed any deadlines for any reason the world would explode. Nothing but nothing, must interfere with a meaningless arbitrary deadline.

There is a reason for this, of course. They are always scrambling to get something finalized before their ill-conceived plans or public lies are exposed. We are witnessing this happening before our eyes once again:

Some specialists said the administration is fixated on artificial deadlines at the expense of addressing substantive issues. “There’s no doubt the administration has the ability to force an agreement in the next seven days,” but if it is one that does not resolve the underlying issues “that’s a much, much bigger failure than failing to meet a deadline,” said Judith Kipper, a scholar at the Council on Foreign Relations.

“There’s a bit of a message to the administration: ‘Don’t rush this. . . . We need to do this right, not fast,’ ” said Noah Feldman, a New York University law professor who advised the U.S.-led occupation authority on constitutional issues. The bid to meet the deadline, he added, was driven by the political imperative of bringing troops home as soon as possible. “It’s shameful,” he said. “It’s constitutional malpractice.”

But their reasons have nothing to do with what is good for Iraq. They are rushing for the benefit of George W. Bush’s political standing. Whenever he’s losing support they pull out another artificial deadline. This time, they have real rootin’ tootin’ experts saying so on the record:

As Gelpi described it, the American people remained supportive of the Iraq effort despite extensive violence when they saw incremental goals being met — first the handover of partial sovereignty last summer, and then the democratic elections in January.

Since then, he said, public support has fallen because there are no more intermediary benchmarks. Bush could have laid some out in his speech short of a timetable for withdrawal, Gelpi said, such as setting targets for how many Iraqi security forces would be trained by certain dates. That, he said, would give the American public a sense of moving forward as these benchmarks are attained.

“What’s important for him now to keep the public with him is to look forward and say we’re going to make progress and this is what progress looks like,” Gelpi said.

So, they are rushing Iraq to finalize a constitution so that Bush can be perceived as “winning” in Iraq. Let us all wave a purple finger and get a bounce in the polls. And if a few little hitches develop, well, they’ll deal with that down the road. hopefully after the 2006 elections.

Besides, Condi is very confident. Even if the talks are stalled on certain sticky issues, she knows what the Iraqis really want:

“It’s quite remarkable how much the process has become more inclusive over the last couple of months,” Rice said. She added that any final document should guarantee women’s rights. “We’ve been very clear that a modern Iraq will be an Iraq in which women are recognized as full and equal citizens,” Rice said. “And I have every confidence that that is how Iraqis feel.”

Perhaps the Iraqis “feel” that the Americans “have been very clear that a modern Iraq will be an Iraq in which women are revognized as full and equal citizens” but it looks like they also “feel” that the Americans can go piss up a rope. But whatever. So half the population winds up less free than they were under Saddam. Big deal. It’s not like it’s really important in the grand scheme of things.

The only thing that matters is that Junior is able to have a press conference and announce “progress” in Iraq so the idiot Americans will be appeased for another month or two. That’s the plan anyway.

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