Operation Swarmer - Coverup?

The AP slugline just about sums it up best: "In a well-publicized (emphasis mine) show of force, U.S. and Iraqi forces swept into the countryside north of the capital in 50 helicopters Thursday looking for insurgents in what the American military called its "largest air assault" in nearly three years." Turns out the aircraft haven't dropped a bomb and the 1500-man force have rounded up about forty insurgents. On NPR I heard a general talking about finding cachets (based on pronounciation of the word cache) of weapons. Is two a cachet?

My slugline was going to read: In a move designed to appeal to his flagging support among Nascar and Lee Greenwood fans, Bush launched an offensive using fifty aircraft and fifteen hundred troops in a repeat of his smash-hit, shock and awwww. In all seriousness, what are the pictures of helicopters and explosions, rounded-up insurgents and burning cars designed to do?

First, they're designed to stop the bleeding in the polls. Bush claims he doesn't care about them but in some amazing synchronicity, he launches an assault, releases documents classified but untranslated for years pertaining to Iraq before the war and begins a major round of SSDD (same speech, different days) messages that we should stay the course. It is purely a coincidence that the Iraqi brigade capable of combat is leading the charge to capture the estimated 100 insurgents in the city. Given those odds, I'd even bet on the French. Iraq's parliament was also sworn in today in a session lasting nearly thirty minutes. A unifying force? The raid covered up the fact that they can't hold together long enough to debate anything.

What else was covered up in the unidimensional coverage of the raid? The Republicans in the Senate voted to raise the amount you're in debt to $30,000 today by raising the ceiling on the National debt to just under nine trillion dollars. They had to, otherwise we would have defaulted on our existing debt and China would have foreclosed on the U. S. Government. They also approved $92 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, raising the cost for the wars that oil should have paid for to over $400 billion. We're staying the course for a trillion on this one - we've already paid more than for Korea in inflation-adjusted dollars. But bless their hearts, the Republicans did manage to take $39 billion from the poor last year in what's billed as a deficit reduction plan. Apparently the greatest deficit in Republican Washington is wisdom.

Also overwhelmed by the underwhelming news from the Iraq action was that in two weeks the gaps in Medicare coverage will once again be in the news. The ninety-day bandaid applied to stop the bleeding expires April 1 then private insurance companies, one of the beneficiaries of the Drug Plan, won't have to cover medications. This while Bush touted the plan in an upscale retirement community in suburban Virginia. I bet no one goes without their drugs, lies in their own feces or dies of neglect there. Having helped my mother sign up, I know what confusion seniors, particularly those not computer savvy or without a high speed internet connection, have with the plan. And Bush doesn't favor another extension - he's staying the course on May 15th as a deadline for seniors to enroll without penalty. This is properly called compassionate conservatism.

They're still planning to sell off 250,000 acres of our National Forests to support rural programs. I suppose that supports the Republican value of shrinking government: Sell off the part the people benefit from. Of course, the parcels are going to be those the national forest service no longer needs, those with stunning views or trout streams. The primary criteria for sale, according to an NPR interview, is to sell those that will make the most money. So some day when I'm atop Vail looking at the Mount of the Holy Cross, I can marvel at the McMansions on its flanks and think, there are my tax dollars at work.

Finally the raid covered up the nomination of a pro-development Republican who wants to drill and log the remaining public lands to the post of interior secretary. The man watching over the national forests will be one who wants them for their resources. He supports the Senate Republicans' stealth attempt to sneak ANWAR drilling back into the budget, this time in a filibuster-proof budget resolution. The record of Bush's nominee is mixed but it's a good bet he'll favor development over conservation.

So there's the results of today's raid, cover for a number of programs designed to strip us of our money, of our benefits and of our public land. But we caught forty-one insurgents and those Apaches sure make for some good news footage. Meanwhile the globe warms and hurricane season edges nearer.