Odds and Ends

A few brief observations. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) last week admitted that the nation's aviation system is close to collapse. It is unclear whether this is an admission of their own failings or a plea to the airlines to correct their own inadequacies? Given this administration's ideological bent, its probably both. Sort of, "we've been successful in that we've failed to regulate an industry that we should not have been regulating in the first place." Hmmm? Shades of "Great Job, Brownie."

Few in the media have picked up on this twisted logic. Given the ideological underpinnings of the Bush Administration, it succeeds when it fails. If you accept this premise, the President's legacy will be one of the most "successful," in American history.

Another case in point is the announcement last week of the signing of a contract between the Kurds and Hunt Oil for the exploration and exploitation of undiscovered oil reserves in Iraq's Kurdish north. The official U.S. position (I thought) was for a strong central Iraqi government and the equal sharing of oil derived income between all geographic and ethnic elements of the country - i.e. the central government also makes the deals with foreign contractors. So, the Kurd-Hunt Oil deal would appear to run contrary to U.S. policy. Ray (or maybe Roy) Hunt, head of Hunt Oil is one of Bush's strongest political supporters and was appointed by Bush to a civilian advisory committee on U.S. foreign policy.

Curiously, our shift in policies in the Sunni dominated Anwar province appear similar. There, and much to Baghdad's chagrin, the American military is making deals with the local Sunni powers that be.

So...the inconsistency of the Bush Administration remains consistent. On the one hand, we strategically support the strong centralized Iraqi government in Baghdad, while tactically pursuing policies which undermine that position. All, of course, consistent with achieving the ideological principle that the failure of government equates with success.