Commentary ~ June 28, 2005: George Bush this
evening tried to explain to the American people why so many of them
should be killed and maimed in Iraq, while his government funnels
billions of taxpayer dollars to a few entrenched oligarchs in charge
of the nation’s military machine.
Bush declared this evening that America must stay
the course in Iraq, despite the high cost in lives and dollars,
so that the companies of his friends can continue to make money.
The announcement comes one year after the transfer of sovereignty
to the Iraqis, while companies like Haliburton continue to rake
in billions of tax dollars paid by ordinary Americans.
Bush went to Fort Bragg in North Carolina, one of
the largest military bases in the United States in an effort to
shore up declining support for his disastrous Iraq policy. "Our
mission in Iraq is clear,” he bellowed, bellow able to hide
is characteristic smirch. “We are hunting down the terrorists.
We are helping Iraqis build a free nation that is an ally in the
war on terror. We are advancing freedom in the broader Middle East.”
Bush admitted his occupation of the country is difficult
and dangerous, but added it is indeed worth the cost – to
his friends. He said freedom is under attack in Iraq by an enemy
with total disregard for human life. The resistance forces in Iraq
could have replied that the same could be said for the U.S. military
forces occupying Iraq, who once dropped a bomb on a restaurant because
of a rumor Saddam Hussein had been eating there.
Straining himself to stretch the imagination beyond
all foreseen boundary, Bush added that the insurgents fighting democracy
in Iraq are cut from the same cloth as the terrorists responsible
for the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. He had
nothing to add about the situation before he had invaded the country,
when Islamic fundamentalists were routinely rounded up, imprisoned,
shot or deported.
Despite this known fact that Islamic fundamentalists
were not welcome in Iraq before his government took over business
there, Bush said "Iraq is where they are making their stand.
So we will fight them there, we will fight them across the world,
and we will stay in the fight until the fight is won," he said.
In an editorial appearing after the president's speech,
the Washington Post pointed out that Bush didn't explain how a war
meant to remove a tyrant believed to wield weapons of mass destruction
turned into a fight against Muslim militants, a transformation caused
in part by his administration's many errors since Saddam Hussein's
defeat more than two years ago. The editorial also drew attention
to the fact that Bush neglected to mention how the primary mission
the United States now has in Iraq, which is not "hunting down
the terrorists" but constructing a stable government in spite
of Iraq's sectarian divisions and violent resistance from the former
ruling elite.
Bush’s approval ratings have fallen to the
lowest levels of his presidency -- in part because of growing fears
about Iraq. Even though it has been repeatedly established by the
CIA and other intelligence agencies that there was no possible link
between Iraq and al Queda, Bush invoked the attacks of Sept. 11,
2001, repeatedly and cited al Qaeda leader bin Laden as a reason
for continuing the effort in Iraq.
A recent Washington Post-ABC News Poll found that
only 22 percent of Americans believe Bush when he says the insurgency
is getting weaker, while 56 percent disapprove of his handling of
the war.
Bush needs to get a grip. No, we take that back –
it is the American people who continue to stand beside the self-proclaimed
burning Bush who need to get a grip and see through the plume of
smoke that surrounds his profiteering administration.
