Monday, June 20, 2005 - Why did we invade Iraq? Such a mystery. Was it the oil? Was it to protect Israel? Was Furious George trying to get back at the mustachioed meanie who tried to off his dad? Was it Dick Cheney and the NeoCons seizing power and convincing President AWOL to dynamite the Middle East, hoping that what was left would embrace Democracy? Was it the evil CIA, getting it all wrong and leading our poor President astray with faulty intelligence?

My father - a wise man - taught me not to trust what people say, but rather to watch what they do. Here's the truth that's hiding in plain sight - the Iraq War "Product" (this is what White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card famously called it) was "introduced" in September of 2002 to give the Republicans a great big rubber mallet to whack the Democrats in the mid-term elections. In what has to be the most breath-taking act of cynicism in American political history, Karl Rove & Company put the success of their own political party ahead of the interests of the America people. Rove & Company decided that winning a Republican majority in the Senate and keeping a majority in the House of Representative was worth a few thousand American lives, and a few hundred billions of dollars. The beauty of this strategy, of course, is that it's self-inoculating. As Karl Rove well knows, any Democrat who called the Bush team on this would be met with, "Are you seriously suggesting the Republicans would stoop to such a tactic? That's beyond the pale!"

Remember that campaign in the fall of 2002? We heard that Saddam Hussein was Hitler, Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot rolled into one.

He had chemical weapons. He had biological weapons. He was hell-bent on getting nuclear weapons, and was feverishly developing the means to deliver them. What a great "product"! Republicans branded themselves as the party of strength, security, victory over evil, and moral certainty. Any Democrat who tried to join this parade was quickly muscled into the gutter. Any Democrat who opposed this rush to war, or even voiced the tiniest murmur of skepticism was heaped with scorn as a fuzzy-thinking appeaser at best, a traitor at worst.

This strategy worked beautifully. Chickenhawk war wimps like Saxby Chambliss were able to pummel genuine heroes like Max Cleland. What political consumer could resist such an attractive product? "Hey, Mister and Mrs. America, what are you looking for in a war? Fast? Cheap? Victory without Body Bags? We've got the Anti-Vietnam, with our patented secret ingredients, "Shock N' Awe!" The Iraqi War Product was the TiVO of wars - an astonishing new way to re-make the world with virtually no personal sacrifice by anyone! No pain, all gain!

A further benefit for the product came in 2004. Mr. Rove correctly perceived that no matter what happened in Iraq, just being a "War President" and scaring America with "hungry wolves" advertising would get Mr. Bush to the 51% he needed for a second term. You've got to hand it to Rove - this strategy was so bold that EVEN TODAY, EVEN NOW columnists and pundits refuse to recognize its cynical effectiveness.

Of course, now we have the Downing Street Memos, which prove to any unwashed brain that the Bushies were planning to go to war in the summer of 2002, and were twisting Tony Blair's arm to "get on board for the Big Win." The memos even lay out Rove's time-line - the war was fixed to begin, by their choice, in the fall for maximum impact in the 2002 midterms.

So what can Rove do for Mr. Bush in 2006? With the President polling 42% popularity, what can the White House do to neutralize the Democrats in the next mid-term elections? In August of 2006, we'll no doubt still be stuck in an Iraqi quagmire. Gasoline will very like be above 3 dollars a gallon, maybe 4. Every Democrat in the House will be firing up his/her Social Security attack ad. Given all this - and given you, Karl Rove, identify yourself and your fellow Republicans as the "Sole Keepers of What's Good for America," what would you do?

Here's what I think will happen. On September 1, 2006 (or thereabouts), Rove will put Bush at the center of the Mother Of All Photo Ops. President Bush will declare "VICTORY IN IRAQ! THE TROOPS ARE COMING HOME!" For the next two months and all the way to Election Day, every Republican Senate and House candidate will hold a Victory Parade in his/her district. Let the troop hugging and yellow-ribbon waving begin. Any Democrat who tries to point out that Iraq is descending into chaos will be accused of pessimism, negativity, and of course, being a traitor.

The day after the election, Bush/RoveCo will announce that a little "mopping up" needs to be done, and some troops will have to stay. And the quagmire will continue, until it fully unravels into a civil war. The eventual defeat will, of course, be blamed on the public being hypnotized by the Evil Liberal Media.

The Democrats better understand that Republican cynicism knows no bounds, and that these folks will do whatever it takes to stay in power. Whatever. It. Takes.