Political strategy in the Men's room......

So, I stop by the restroom before I leave the office tonight, and someone had left a newspaper on the floor.

Who do I see? Nancy Pelosi (plus Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid). You may insert your own joke here, I will resist the urge.

Nancy says Congress will not allow the President to send in more troops to Iraq.

Which got me to thinking......like a politican..........

The LAST thing that ANY of us should politicize is the situation in Iraq. It puts our troops in more danger, first of all, and secondly, we are talking about the most sensitive region in the world (always has been, always will be).

Will "politics" inevitably come up in a frank, honest dialogue on the subject? Sure. What I'm speaking of is "using politics to further your political career/agenda/ambitions".

So, I started thinking like a politican who only wants to look good and get re-elected.

Let's say I'm George W. Bush. I hear the cries of the new majority on Capitol Hill and say, "Okay, let's do it your way."

Bush goes to the Iraqi Prime Minister and announces that all United States military personnel will be out of Iraq no later than December 31, 2007. So, they've got a year to get their own house in order.

Now, we know the following would most likely occur:

1) Terrorists and terror sympathizers would continue their sectarian attacks and count down the days until 01/01/08. More and more Iraqis will die.

2) After January 1, 2008, when we are "gone", it's most likely that the government there now could last, say, 30 days. So therefore, all-out chaos ensues and contributes to the destabilization of an already destablized region. Plus, with no blanket protection by the U.S. and coalition forces in their way, the attacks become bombardments.

3) So, by the 2008 political conventions, it could be argued that there would be more Iraqi deaths in the chaotic first half of 2008 (as well as maybe a threatened invasion by Iran, Syria, or both) than there were in 2007, or in 2006, or in 2005, etc......when the U.S. still had a presence.

Hmmmm.....now, to score possibly debilitating points to Hillary, Barack, whoever......the GOP can, at their convention, point to the Middle East and say, "Look how all hell has broken loose since our forces left. Yes, there were big problems while we were there, but there was some level of stability. There is none now. We have the Democratic Congress to thank for our role in the year of hell that is 2008 in the Middle East."

The Dems nominee would (correctly) remind the electorate that it was the GOP that led us into Iraq in the first place (which McCain, Guliani, etc. could retort that Democrats such as Hillary Clinton and John Edwards voted for the war, too).

I don't like thinking like a political think-tank. My above logic is only trying to protect my political future, and not the deaths of innocent people.

And, oh, by the way, while we continue to disintegrate as a society pointing fingers......who's minding the store called "Friends of Israel"?

God forbid........