Bush declares bigger, wider war

After president's laundry list of escalations, Democrats reinforce despicable theme of the ``ungrateful'' Iraqis

This is how Bush will spend thousands more lives in his ``surge'':

Counter-terror operations against Al Qaeda and insurgent organizations; troops will have ``wider authority'' to ``pursue extremists'' while ``going door-to-door to gain the trust of Baghdad residents''

Iran and Syria are interfering in Iraq so he will ``disrupt'' this meddling -- thus making a grave threat to these countries

He will chasten Iran with a new carrier battle group he has ordered to the Gulf

In previous failed surges, Bush said there ``weren't enough troops'', and they had ``too many restrictions.'' What does this mean? Will there be more mayhem, more bombardment, more homes smashed in by those ``door-to-door'' raids, and more detention, torture, and killing now than before?

The rationale Bush is using remains the same: failure in Iraq would mean ``disaster'' -- historical failure leading to the end of America under a future assault from terrorists who would base there. The irony is lost. What extremely violent operation is based there now? Who has threatened Iraq's neighbors, possibly with nuclear war?

And the mis-identification of the ``enemy'' being fought remains. Bush says the ``terrorists and insurgents'' cause ``political and sectarian interference''. They just keep coming back when the troops are gone. He speaks of the ``local population'' as if it is something different than the people his forces are killing. In fact, the US attacks are killing everybody, and therein lies the catalyst for the violence to escalate.

Durbin's response feels pathetic to me, and highly condescending to the Iraqi people. We've given them so much, everything they wanted, we dug their dictator ``out of a hole.'' Now, we won't be Iraq's ``911''. What does this say? That the Iraqis enjoy the occupation of their country? Sure, the quislings installed in the Iraqi government are propped up by the American military. But it is a remarkable conceit for Durbin to suggest the big punishment the Iraqi public fears is to see the backs of the Americans.