So now that Democrats have officially swept the midterms, barring Republicans from picking up a single Congressional seat or governorship, what next? Why, more troops and more war, of course! Leaks indicate that, in typical “who cares what you think” fashion, Bush and his new minder, James Baker, have settled on an Iraq strategy that includes increased troop levels and more of that super-successful “stay the course” strategy, redubbed “the last push.”

Oh, and democracy for Iraq? Forget about it.

According to the London Guardian, the Iraq Study Group’s four-point strategy will be:

· Increase US troop levels by up to 20,000 to secure Baghdad and allow redeployments elsewhere in Iraq

· Focus on regional cooperation with international conference and/or direct diplomatic involvement of countries such as Kuwait and Saudi Arabia

· Revive reconciliation process between Sunni, Shia and others

· Increased resources from Congress to fund training and equipment of Iraqi security forces

So there will be no withdrawal, no redeployment. The War Must Go On! Why? Because Henry Kissinger said so:

“You’ve got to remember, whatever the Democrats say, it’s Bush still calling the shots. He believes it’s a matter of political will. That’s what [Henry] Kissinger told him. And he’s going to stick with it,” a former senior administration official said. “He [Bush] is in a state of denial about Iraq. Nobody else is any more. But he is. But he knows he’s got less than a year, maybe six months, to make it work. If it fails, I expect the withdrawal process to begin next fall.” (London Guardian)

Another reason why this historic Democratic win has left most of us feeling relief, but not joy. We won the battle but we still don’t have our country back.

~Stef