The Beat Goes On.....

The headlines of two news bits in today's New York Times tell us what the rhetoric of the Bush Inauguration didn't:

"General Says the Current Plan Is to Maintain 120,000 Soldiers in Iraq Through 2006"

"Bush to Seek About $80 Bln for Military Operations"

Perhaps the only saving grace in this situation is that the military, especially the Army, is stretched almost to the breaking. There will undoubtedly be more talk about evil Iran, probably more commando raids (see "The Coming Wars" by Seymour Hersh in last week's New Yorker) but no major ground campaigns. The Bush regime will do its best to destabilize its opponents, but it lacks the military strength to launch another Iraq.