"20,000 men on the dead man's chest- Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!”*

The Iraq war has reached a tipping-point… or so George Bush would have us believe. Wednesday night he presented his case to the American people. Stead-fast in his pursuit of “victory,” 20,000 more soldiers will be sent to Baghdad to sweep-out and hold the neighborhoods of the Iraqi capital. Will the additional man power tip the scales in favor of the Iraq government? Will the Iraqi security forces finally “step-up?” I hope they do. But no mater how sure Bush is, he has to be feeling hot under the collar.

Almost immediately after the Iraq war began, the congressional and popular support for the President began slipping. Sure, Bush still has John McCain (R-AZ) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and a handful of others in his corner. But when former Presidential lap dogs like Norm Coleman (R-MN) and Sam Brownback (R-KS) start to turn… Bush must be worried.

Bush is the captain of a pirate ship and the mutiny is brewing. He is attempting to keep the crew working toward the “treasure,” but day by day the subordinates are losing moral. Yet Bush will not, or cannot, come to terms with either the scope or nature of the problem. There was a recent ray of hope that he had turned the corner. When Bush commissioned a bi-partisan panel to look at the worsening situation in Iraq it looked like he was finally beginning to grasp the problems inherent in his current Iraq policy.

But the Iraq commission now appears to be little more than another attempt to rally support for an unpopular war. Bush is doing everything he can to keep up the façade, as if admitting defeat is worse than defeat itself. He knows that his presidency will be judged by the perceived success or failure in Iraq. And Bush either honestly believes that “winning” in Iraq will set-off a domino effect in the Middle East, ending terrorism and installing democracy through out the region. Or he has resigned himself to the battle of perception. Either way, putting 20,000 more American lives in the balance is both reckless and desperate.

Forgive me if I don’t believe that Bush thoughtfully considered all the advice that he was offered. Until he acknowledges that we are fighting a cultural battle with military forces, there can be little hope for any meaningful progress in Iraq. Meanwhile, more families will have to deal with the loss of loved ones, more soldiers will come back injured and deformed, and the battle for Iraq hearts and minds will be won by insurgents with a radical religiosity that will keep them on the battlefield long after U.S. troops have left.

George Bush does not understand the enemy, he does not understand the culture, and he does not understand the lessons of our past. Yet he sails on undaunted, unwilling to level with the nation. This maybe his last chance, after that… all bets are off.

*Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson