Notes From The Bottom Of The Stack

"Where mistakes have been made, the responsibility rests with me," so sayeth the Pinhead. The trouble with the contrition is that it comes along with a heaping helping of additional troops being sent into the whirling maelstrom that is Iraq. "If we increase our support at this crucial moment and help the Iraqis break the current cycle of violence, we can hasten the day our troops begin coming home," he said. By "support" I can only imagine he means "potential targets."
Somewhere in the midst of all of this bluster and chin wagging, I had a vision of Yertle the Turtle. Yertle figures the best way to build his kingdom is on the backs of his subjects - literally. After he has stacked turtles up past two hundred, the turtles down near the bottom are getting especially uncomfortable, especially a plain little turtle named Mack: "Your Majesty, please... I don't like to complain, but down here below, we are feeling great pain. I know, up on top you are seeing great sights, but down here at the bottom we, too, should have rights. We turtles can't stand it. Our shells will all crack! Besides, we need food. We are starving!" groaned Mack.
I agree with Mack. Pinhead is seeing great sights, like Democracy blooming in the desert, but down here at the bottom we are feeling great pain. Eventually poor little Mack burps, and the throne of Yertle comes tumbling down into the pond on that far away island of Sala-ma-sond. And Yertle is reduced to being king of the mud, for that is all he can see.
"Our past efforts to secure Baghdad failed for two principal reasons: There were not enough Iraqi and American troops to secure neighborhoods that had been cleared of terrorists and insurgents, and there were too many restrictions on the troops we did have." Keep stacking, then see what happens.
And today the great Pinhead, that Marvelous he,
Is King of the Mud. That is all he can see.
And the turtles, of course... all the turtles are free
As turtles and, maybe, all creatures should be.