by Lynnell Mickelsen

Steve Gilliard, a 41-year-old African-American blogger from Manhattan writes about everything---food, politics, chicks, Iraq and military history. I especially like his stuff on Iraq.

Anyhow, his post today is the best explanation I've read so far on why the hell W. invaded Iraq. Here's some excerpts below, but really, go read the whole thing.

".....George Bush has never explained Iraq in terms which a logical person could understand. Iraq has been an emotional appeal from the first day going after Saddam was raised. It was never about any actual threat, but an emotional desire to prove we could dominiate anyone who opposed us.

"For Bush, who has failed at every task ever put before him, from work, to the military to school, this was going to be his vindication. He so desperately wanted to be a hero and Iraq was going to solve all of his issues. He would defeat an enemy, prove himself worthy and gain the respect from his family he so desperately wanted.

"Which is why he chose men his father kept at arms length. Bush never wanted advice, he wanted confirmation of his beliefs. His narrow world view, shaped by the dust dry plains of Midland as much as any movie, this idea thata man didn't need or want questions, he just did.

"Which is how he approached the American people, not with facts, but an emotional appeal. (Saddam's) out there, he's guilty, let's get him first. That was the goal, get them first, show them who is boss, Those who don't get that are weak, even if they are in uniform. We will show the world they better not fuck with us again. Iraq will be first, and the rest will bend to our will. We will show them what a superpower does.

"This was never a logical argument, it was never a reasoned one, it was pure emotion, which the anti-war movement never got. Iraq was a challenge to us, our manhood, our power and anyone in the way just didn't care.

"It wasn't anything to do with concrete facts. It wasn't just fear, but emasculation which Bush sold.... People wanted to believe that the US could run down Iraq and then all manner of miracle would follow...,

"Which is why so many people believed in Bush for so long. That Iraq was to be beaten as psychological payback for 9/11. Osama lived in caves, Saddam in palaces. He was a villian worthy of our attention, not some cave dwelling nutjob. He was an enemy, despite the fact that he had pretty much left us alone.

"Bush is a bully and a coward at heart. Iraq was chosen because Iraq would be easy, and then the rest of the Middle East would follow. It was the easy way to solve our problems, not our real problems, but our emotional pain, the unresolved conflict over being attacked. And Bush would resolve his lifelong lack of success.

Bush will not leave Iraq, not because he thinks we can win, or he thinks it's part of the war on terror. But because he cannot face another failure. Which is why Scowcroft and Baker have had no influence on him. They are his father's men, veterans, despite their politics, realists. Bush is not and never has been. When he wasn't hiding from his failure with booze and coke, he hid from it with Jesus. Now he has Henry Kissinger whispering in his ear, telling him what he wants to hear. He doesn't want advice, he wants support and only support. Those who do not support him, are diminished, then banished.

This is a man who has never honestly looked himself in the face and said I have failed. He has always been protected from failure.

Which is why Rumsfeld keeps his job. To admit he was incompetent, and some days he seems positively addled, would reflect poorly on Bush.

When people look to understand Iraq, they look at the facts and see failure, but that isn't what Bush sees. He sees one more chance for personal glory and he will not quit until he is forced to.

Many Republicans have no idea that they have bought into was as psychodrama. It isn't psychodrama to the Tillmans or the Sheehans, but it is for Bush, who seeks redemption as desperately as he drank. And his redemption is in Iraq.,,,

Only problem is that nothing he has imagined, nothing he has said, is true. Iraq is worst now than under Saddam. When I was reading about the Kurds in 1987-88, I never imagined that would be true.

Phased withdrawal is bullshit. Once you start withdrawing troops from Iraq, the demand to do it quicker will mount. Because Iraq is a house of cards. once it goes, it goes quickly. Anyone who would serve in an occupation government isn't strong enough to lead a real government and Maliki is doomed....

Iraq is only now become fact, not emotion, and we have to find a way out of it. George Bush's psychodrama is going to end badly."

(Lynnell weighing in again) I think Steve nails it. The question is, will we as a country ever admit that we've been this stupid? Will we ever be able to deal with the fact that we've killed hundreds of thousands of totally innoncent Iraqi civilians, not to mention thousands of our own soldiers. And for what?

Because W. couldn't resolve his sense of failure? Because he wanted to play out some Oedipal psychodrama with Dad? Because he was too macho for AA?

I already know how the right-wingers will deal with our coming defeat in Iraq. They'll say we were backstabbed by those dirty, fucking hippies, Bill and Hillary, Democrats, the liberal media and so on and so forth. Facts don't matter to wing-nuts. And the so-called mainstream media will give them plenty of air time and space.

But at some point, when does the rest of the country openly acknowledge this stuff?

Gilliard says, "This was never a logical argument, it was never a reasoned one, it was pure emotion, which the anti-war movement never got....."

So how in the future, will we effectively counter another irrational, emotional appeal to go to war? What have we learned?

I mean, I marched. I called. I wrote. I voted. So did millions of others around the country. None of it seemed to matter in the slightest. Did I do enough to try to stop this insane war? No. But what else could I have done that might have worked? I don't know.

And Bush still has two more years. There will be no happy ending or soft landing for us in Iraq. Thiis nightmare ain't over yet.