Bush's speech on Jan. 10, announcing a "surge" of troops to Iraq, had all the hollow sounds of Hitler moving cardboard armies around in his bunker in Berlin in 1945. My reaction was not surprise or shock, but deep sadness. Our country has lost its way. Our legislatures have lost their backbone. Our media has lost its integrity. Our president has gone off the rails into fantasyland and talking heads are still giving deference to his views as if they were rational. It took Rome many decades to crumble and collapse. I am afraid that it is going to take America only a few years.

The airwaves have been pumping the word "surge" for weeks. The White House leaked the idea to a compliant media almost a month ago. Lazy reporters, eager to gobble after crumbs like catfish in a pond rather than do any serious journalism, babbled the "surge" word over and over as if it was already a done deal days before the speech. NPR even called in a dictionary expert to parse the word as if that would enlighten anyone. They bandied about the exact numbers, the timing, and the alleged intent ad nauseam. At no time did the media seriously debunk the idea of a surge in troops to Baghdad. By the time the press and pundits were finished, Bush appeared even more hollow than usual. He had nothing new to say. He was redundant.

Gone was his bravado. Gone were his pet catchphrases like "stay the course," "bring it on," or "mission accomplished." Instead, this weak irrational little man stood up and admitted utter defeat. He had no plan. He announced no new strategy. He did not heed the objections of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the misgivings of Congress, or even the recommendations of his own over-hyped blue ribbon panel. He ignored the votes of the American people who resoundingly rejected his leadership and threw out his Republicans in the last election. Even his generals told him bluntly that there is no military solution to the civil war in the middle of which our young men and women are dying every day. Instead Bush came right out and said that he was going to gamble another 21,500 American lives in the quagmire of Baghdad.

This "surge" is nothing new. Cheney went to Baghdad and pressured Maliki to make loud pledges once again that he would crack down on the militias. Rove and Rice then spun this empty pledge as if it were a novel idea. They branded it as a "surge" to give the impression that it was just one more push--one more sacrifice--to crest over the wave of violence and bring home a victory. Then they gave it to their boy to deliver in a speech. But it is a lie. It is not just a surge--a temporary influx of new forces to overcome a temporary insurgency. It is a permanent increase of troops with no end in sight. There is still no exit strategy. There are still no timetables. There is no new diplomatic initiative. There are no new maneuvers or new weapons.

The insurgency in Iraq is not new nor is it temporary. It will go on as long as American troops occupy Iraqi soil and as long as American puppets act there in our name. Our own colonial insurgency against the British lasted eight years--in spite of a "surge" of Hessians and whole armies of British redcoats. Insurgencies don't go away in the face of force. They can only be addressed by political means--which this president stubbornly refuses to do.

So this so-called "surge" is at bottom nothing more than a desperate attempt to keep the pot boiling for another two years--long enough to stave off utter American defeat until Bush is no longer in office to take the blame.

--Janice Van Cleve is a writer and a veteran. Her son is serving his second tour in Baghdad.