The Family (Or most of them)

The Family (Or most of them)
The Family

January 11, 2007

The B.uS.h Presidency

REMEMBER THIS PICTURE?


AND THIS ONE?

These were pictures taken in March 2003, beamed around the world, of a democratically barely-elected "leader" of the world's greatest superpower, emerging from his little cocoon halfway around the world to rub Islam's face in it.

Unable to corral Osama Bin Laden, and with no other whipping boy to conquer and punish for the horror of 9-11, George W. Bush invented the "War on Terror" under the guise of something he called "Operation Iraqi Freedom."

He dreamed up, in his own little far-right-wing, puzzled head, the story that Iraq was a haven for terrorists and that it had, within its borders, what came to be known as WMDs -- Weapons of Mass Destruction.

It didn't matter that UN inspectors were never able to find the WMDs, and that almost the entire rest of the planet did not support an invasion of Iraq. But from his Oval Office, he ordered one anyway. Someone had to pay.

And the pictures above are him with that stupid smirk on his face showing up on a U.S. aircraft carrier to spit in Iraq's and Islam's face to declare what everybody already knew would be a very quick American victory over Saddam Hussein's forces.

Saddam, of course, was eventually captured in a hole in the ground, was checked for lice and other things in a very public humiliation, was imprisoned and, just last month, was executed for the vile acts of horror he perpetrated upon the Iraqi people.

And he deserved to die. But has his death helped the "War on Terror?" Or has it escalated it?

As Americans finally revolt against the fact that more than 3,000 of their own soldiers have perished in the years since then in this doomed-to-fail "War On Terror" in a country they can't begin to understand, it was a more reserved Bush on national TV last night.

The smirk, if you noted, was gone. But he opted to compound the many wrongs -- and do what polls suggest the majority of Americans don't want him to do, and and what all his generals told him from the get-go that he should do.

He wants to send MORE TROOPS to Iraq. More to die.

His presidency has been deep-sixed. Take out the u and the h in his last name -- it's the B.S. for Bullshit presidency. And no, I'm not American, and perhaps some U.S. citizens might be offended that I am opining at all.

But the whole world is watching this. And the whole world is involved and has a stake in it. And your man Bush is the guy, whether we understand why you elected him -- not once, but twice -- or not.

Today, of course, the Bush people are out in force trying to lobby for the lost son of a president's plan. It's all over CNN. There still is no true contrite admission that the B.S. administration absolutely screwed this all up aside from vague references.

No, now it's all about how whatever happened before, this is what must be done now to preserve the U.S. of A.'s integrity and legacy and all that crap. And to continue the "War on Terror."

Sen. John McCain, who appears to be the favourite to be the Republican presidential nominee in 2008, said no matter what people think of the mistakes already made, he wants to hear what the Democrats would propose to do if America pulled out of Iraq.

And I'd like to know what America will do when the inevitable happens if it sends more troops in: that the addition of 21,500 more young souls isn't going to change a country that is beset by religious strife that Americans, Canadians and other democracies can't understand.

McCain seems to be saying that a U.S. troop withdrawal will leave Iraq in a state of chaos. What, it isn't in chaos now? Why does America think it can just parachute its own style of democracy into a place that isn't ready for it, doesn't want it?

If the U.S. wanted full control, it should have gone in to Iraq with overwhelming numbers right from the start. It didn't. Now it's paying the inevitable consequences. The sooner U.S. troops leave, the better; the fewer American lives lost.

The most intelligent words I heard Wednesday were from Barack Obama, the U.S. Democratic senator from Illinois whom I hope will be the next U.S. president, based on the little I know. He was very fair and didn't say what he could have said about Bush.

No, he said what should have been said all along -- that American troops need to come out of Iraq. That Iraq needs to be its own country and not a puppet democracy with its mouth sucking America's nipple.

No matter what the consequences.

America is a great nation, full of some of the most advanced, imaginative people on Earth. But it has a terrible leader, one it doesn't deserve, one who has plunged it into a huge military and moral debt that has tarnished its greatness.

If that can't change by resignation or impeachment, then I sure hope it changes in 2008.

13 comments:

  1. Anonymous3:54 p.m.

    Amen to all you've said here, every single word. I'm an American and I’m embarrassed by our president and his war mongering ways. GW doesn't give a damn what the American people want and he and his republican buddies are going to have a rude awakening during the election of 2008.

    Great post WW!

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  2. When I was watching last night I naively thought for a moment that he was going to admit to having made mistakes and the new plan was to bring everyone home safely. As soon as he said he was sending in 20,000 more soliders in there, I turned off the television. And I still can't wrap my head around the fact that this idiot was voted into office twice. What the hell were the American people thinking?

    I agree with everything you wrote, except for one thing. When you spoke of Saddam Hussein's execution, you said he deserved to die. I cannot agree with this as I'm opposed to capital punishment. I don't think anyone should have the right to decide that someone should be killed.

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  3. I actually felt nauseous when I heard this latest news.

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  4. **And he deserved to die. But has his death helped the "War on Terror?" Or has it escalated it?

    Spot on WW! tnxxx for this enlightening post!

    Violence cannot be resolved from Violence. Bush has no idea does he!

    Keshi.

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  5. Wax on!
    There is NOTHING that the US can do to stop Iraq from splitting into three. It is incomprehensible how anything less than a full scale D Day Invasion could get their 'Mission Accomplished'..
    and then what..
    babysit for for another 50 years like Korea.
    Since the US military is half of it's Vietnam era size this means that they would have to pull the 50,000 soldiers out of Europe plus the 20,000 each in Japan and Korea..
    not going to happen.

    There are already 150,000 troops in Iraq and it is obviously not enough because this type of War is not fought by distinctly uniformed combatants fighting out in the open.

    If it is the Oil that that they are after..
    let the businessmen steal it the old fashioned way..
    you don't need guns for that.

    If they seriously wanted the 'salvageable' populace to gain a democracy they need to let the 'terrorists' accumulate in a specific city..
    let them amass and expose themselves after vacating the 'good' Iraqis...
    then go in and level the entire sonofabitch area and get it the hell over with instead of fighting door to door and getting picked off one at a time.

    The States has to get over the concept that they have to save the world...
    what if they used the 50 Billion dollars that they wasted on their Military budget last year on Medical, Educational and Engineering projects around the globe...that would be something to be proud of.

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  6. hi, i enjoyed this well-put-together post and strongly agree with your sentiments. i am still very shcoekd about this latest proposal re. sending more troops in; it really is getting well beyond farcical now!

    i found u via both lee's and awating's blogs by the way ;-D

    ~

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  7. Anonymous1:07 a.m.

    thats some post dude...

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  8. Laurie:

    Thanks, Laurie.

    I think he's just in denial mode now and it's all about returning the Republicans to some semblance of public support before 2008.

    It's sad to see what this has come to. 9-11 was, of course, unfathomable. But everything that's happened since has only enflamed the situation, not put it off.

    Anna:

    Yeah, I'm not generally a proponent of the death penalty so in retrospect, I'm not sure whether I agree with myself.

    But in this case, you knew it was going to happen. He did terrorize his own people for many years, and the U.S. knew exactly what he was doing and didn't stop him.

    In fact, they were allies against Iran there for a while. But again, this is a lack of understanding about Islam too.

    Whether we like it or not, those countries are NOT democracies. Life and death there are given and taken on different terms. People are shot and tortured all the time by governments that enact laws that take lives away for things we wouldn't get a slap on the wrist for here.

    Andrea:

    Hope it wasn't too messy...

    Keshi:

    :-)

    HE:

    You and I talk about this all the time, obviously, in our weekly solve-the-world's-problems meetings.

    Spot on yourself.

    Fergal:

    Thanks for visiting, I've seen that very unique avatar all over.

    Beyond farcical is right.

    Angel:

    :-)

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  9. Anonymous9:49 a.m.

    This bastard just might achieve a greater number of deaths than all traffic/air/naval accidents combined. He's not even legally elected! And this is the brand of democracy he wants to foist on others.Oh...John Howard says Australian troop numbers will not need to be increased because they are in the relatively safe southern area.How comforting. How stupid!
    And now, I,too, will have a special person to think of...the son of a friend will be deployed to Iraq with Tony Blair's next "contribution."

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  10. ww, you've written a fine piece here. i agree with you fully. i find myself praying, which i don't normally do, that the mess this president has created can be untangled in our lifetimes. goes to show you what can happen when zero curiosity meets stupidity meets zealotry.

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  11. Anonymous8:59 a.m.

    What more can one add here for a very stupid president?

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  12. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  13. Our Prime Minister, Mr John Howard, is not an extremely bad man. He is not a particularly good man either. He is a conservative, right-wing politician, he is obviously a man of great intelligence in certain ways and areas - it takes some brains and some cunning to succeed in politics (at least, it does if your dad wasn't president). However, in recent years, Mr Howard's head has been firmly lodged a considerable distance up Mr Bush's rear end. He has been seduced by the power of the President of the United States of America. He has supported and sucked up to Mr Bush in every act. It is one thing to live in a country governed by a stupid man, but it is quite another to know that your country and your leader are following in the footsteps of that stupid man. It is akin to watching a friend being eaten alive by a tiger, and knowing that you're next! An inexorable dread, an inevitability, a sense of events beyond your control leading to your doom.

    Ok, I'm being over-dramatic, I know. But it still sucks!

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