Mirage After Mirage After Mirage

By Robert Parry
August 30, 2005

The latest promised Iraqi oasis – a constitution that would herald peace and democracy – has turned out to be just the latest mirage in America’s bloody trek through the Iraqi desert. But George W. Bush is already pointing toward the next shimmering image and the Washington establishment agrees that the nation must press on.

Dramatic alternatives – like finally turning back and withdrawing U.S. troops – remain out of the question as far as nearly all major politicians and pundits are concerned. As in the run-up to war in late 2002 and early 2003, the United States is experiencing a truncated debate about what to do next in Iraq, often led by the same debaters.