Today’s posting is short on input from Wild Bill. Instead you are referred to two articles from the Washington Post and one from the Boston Globe that are at once among the most interesting and frightening to date on this presidency.

The first, from the Post, appeared buried on page A-18. It reports on serious thinking among defense strategists on the end game in Iraq. Serious thinkers in the defense establishment are beginning to see only two likely outcomes in that beleaguered nation, partition and civil war. While neither of these options is new, that the military is now considering what was just months ago unthinkable is saddening. Not long ago, this article would have drawn swift condemnation by both the president and DOD Secretary Rumsfeld. I await their reaction.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/29/AR2006042901142.html

The second, also from the Post, is a column by Robert Kagan that shatters the neocon myth that we can simply snap our fingers – or saddle up our cavalry – and enforce the certain march toward democracy in the world. China and Russia are not only not falling in line with the failed notion; they are actively working against it.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/28/AR2006042801987.html

The final article from the Globe is perhaps the most frightening. This long piece by Charlie Savage describes the systematic grab for power by the Bush administration. While I have been less paranoid than many over this obvious trend to strengthen the presidency at the expense of the other branches, Savage has carefully researched the subject and lays it out chapter and verse. While a multi-page article, I found it riveting and recommend it highly.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/04/30/bush_challenges_hundreds_of_laws/


Boy, Bush is diving deep and bottom feeding as he seeks his place in presidential history. It’s frightening what he’s wrought in five and a half years.

Happy reading,

Blog on!

Wild Bill