Updates: War in Iraq, President Bush, and Obama

Today I'm going to post updates on a few topics I've addressed before. First up, the war in Iraq. When Saturn was opposing Neptune last year, I expressed the opinion (maybe in this blog) that once the opposition ended the way would be clear for democracy to take root without being blocked by selfish sectarian interests. The talk at the time was all about "political reconciliation," and the surge was advertised as a way to give Iraqi politicians the space to achieve it. That didn't exactly happen. Much like our political leaders, I wasn't exactly right in my predictions, and I wasn't exactly wrong.

When the opposition ended, things did indeed improve in Iraq. But it wasn't democracy or political reconciliation that took hold so much as some notion of the common good and a movement away from purely sectarian selfishness. The improvement in relations came from the bottom up, rather than from the top down. The common people rejected Al-Qaeda tactics, and proved it by aligning themselves with the Americans.

It figures. I made the classic mistake human beings make when predicting the future; I made my prediction by applying the indicators to the situation occuring at the time. It didn't occur to me to interpret Neptune in Aquarius (which does indeed represent notions of the common good) in ways other than the way it was being framed way back in 2007.

This little example shows the limits of astrology (and other forms of human prediction, such as economic or political predictions made by "experts"), because it shows it is subject to the limits of the humans doing the predicting. The astrology wasn't wrong exactly; but the person looking at it wasn't right exactly either.

I'm now going to do another supremely human thing by not exactly learning from my mistakes. I'm going to go right ahead and make some more predictions about the war based the upcoming Saturn/Uranus opposition in light of the current situation. But this time I'll include a disclaimer. Disclaimer: the energy of Saturn/Uranus will undoubtedly play out in ways no one completely anticipates right now; it will have more implications than what I'm going to discuss, and I won't exactly be right. But I'll try to give you a bit of the flavor.

The opposition between Saturn and Uranus is most intense right around the time of the US presidential election. I therefore predict that the election will in some way be a mess, all screwed up, contentious, chaotic, confusing, or a generally distressing, upsetting bummer. I hope and pray voting machines don't get involved too heavily (Uranus does rule technology). There is also the possibility that, as Senator McCain recently suggested, that Al-Qaeda or some similar group will attempt to influence the election by timing some surprise attack around that time. In a more general sense, the clash between Saturn and Uranus is the clash between order and chaos. It is a clash between conservatism and change. More particularly to the situation in Iraq, it is a clash between the civil order (Saturn) and religious extremists (Uranus in Pisces).

The clash gets ugly again in February of 2009, just in time to greet the new president after his or her inauguration. It will get ugly a third time in September of 2009. I would like to think it will all work out for the best, but I have a suspicion that it will work to the detriment of any US pull-out or it will work to the detriment of Iraq if the US does significantly drawn down troops. I am giving the edge to chaos over order in this contest of the planets.  

Optimism Disorder Update: But don't tell that to President Bush, because he is apparently convinced that everything everywhere is hunky-dory. The war's been a success, and the economy, despite a "rough patch" is doing well enough that we need to fear government over-correction more than we fear losing our homes to foreclosure or our jobs to a recession.

I've spoken before of the optimism disorder that Bush's advisor Karl Rove had, but it occurred to me while listening to the President that he must have an optimism disorder himself. Sure enough, he does. Jupiter in his 3rd house of communications squares his sun in Cancer in the 12th house. Meanwhile, Jupiter trines his Uranus in Gemini. I can sympathize, since I have my own Jupiter squares to contend with. Whether I sympathize or not, Bush's Jupiter cannot convince itself to shut up, and it continually promises everyone more than Bush's sun is willing or able to deliver.

This Jupiter can't abide talk of sacrifice or realism, and it is perpetually optimistic that things will change for the better. They do change, but unfortunately, Bush's Jupiter/optimism disorder makes him an extremely poor predictor of the future. I know very few people with a Jupiter/sun square, but now that I've had a president with one for almost 8 years, I feel I understand it a little better.

Obama Looks Pluto in the Eye: I spoke earlier about the opposition between transiting Pluto in Capricorn and Barack Obama's Venus in Cancer. Right on schedule, it has surfaced with a vengeance. It has surfaced in the form of a video that Obama himself has labeled "incendiary." The video shows Obama's minister letting loose with some full-on spewing Plutonian hatred and bitterness. The thing the minister happens to be hating is the very thing Obama's Venus in Cancer happens to love--the United States of America. An opposition indeed.

Although we don't have an official birth time for Obama, I continue to suspect that his Venus operates in the 9th house of organized religion, since the controversy surrounds the church he attends. At any rate, Obama made a speech yesterday in which he called Pluto out for what Pluto almost always is--the bitterness and rage that arises from past wounds. Showing all the hallmarks of someone confronting an opposition, he sought to balance unity and peace and so on (Venus) with respect for the fury of Pluto unleashed. That's what the books say you've got to do during an opposition, and he certainly made the attempt.

It remains to be seen whether Pluto will be mollified, as he's likely to have more tricks up his sleeve. And once again, the planets confounded me. For I thought the attack would come from the media, and it did--in the form of YouTube. Silly me, with Pluto being in Capricorn, I thought it would be the old-fashioned traditional media, but there you go. I was kinda right, and I was kinda wrong.