Oobleck

Not to trivialize the invasion of Iraq, but has anyone noticed the war's resemblance to oobleck - the gooey green substance that decends upon the kingdom of Didd in Bartholmew and the Oobleck, Dr. Suess' parable of nuclear fallout published in 1949?

Recklessly summoned (with the help of royal magicians) by King Derwin, who is bored with the weather and wants something other than rain, sun, and snow to fall from the sky, oobleck quickly incapacitates every person, animal, and piece of farm equipment in the kingdom - to the frustration of the page boy, Bartholomew Cubbins (Colin Powell?), whose earnest warnings about meddling with the weather the king ignores.  

As unlikely as the present conflict is to end in the manner of Suess' parable - with the king admitting the error of his ways (intelligence?) and issuing an apology that causes the oobleck to "simply, quietly, melt away," the Bush administration would be wise to heed some of the lessons that the good doctor has been teaching young children since the dawn of the cold war. These lessons include the pitfalls of obstinacy  (a message imparted in the both the oobleck tale and the Butter Battle Book), the importance of listening carefully to the international community ("a nation's a nation no matter how small," as Horton the elephant (donkey?) might say), and the need to preserve natural resources (the plaintive cry of the Lorax).  

Why haven't the President and his royal magicians demonstrated that they have learned these lessons?  Someone must have put oobleck in the White House water supply after (or was it before?) 9/11.  And to think that it happened on Mulberry (Downing) Street as well.