Letters to the Editor
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Bush is a disaster for America
Will the last one out of the White House please turn out the lights.
It is apparent that Bush continues to play politics with the lives of
the poor in America as well as the poor souls in Iraq.
All smiles after the death of Zarqawi Bush flew to Iraq as if to
display the trophy he created when he launched the war in Iraq.
Since Usama is nowhere to be found he created Zarqawi just in case
he might need a "kill" in the future. What a disaster of a human
being Bush is. His shame is our shame. America has already lost this
war in the eyes of the world.
Remember Tora Bora and weep. So many American soldiers have met their
death at the hands of Bush and Rumsfeld but the nation is fast asleep.
Will we wake up in time to throw the bum out of the White House? Will
America sleep through this nightmare and wake up as weak as Russia
after they invaded Afghanistan?
Only time will tell. We may already have been mortally wounded with the Iraq Invasion and have lost too much blood to recover.
God help America because it may already be to late to be saved.
Sidney Blumenthal is a genius. Zarqawi was dead a long time ago and
the Pentagon just waited to pull the string. Bush is a mad man.
Leon W. Fainstadt
LFainstadt@aol.com
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sneaky little fu*kers ain't they?
How many "suprise" visits to Iraq does this make for Bush administration officials? A dozen?
I like the way the television media dutifully parrot the White House's choice of words for these visits. They are "suprises."
"I was just in the neighborhood," Bush smirked and paused like Bob Hope, letting the droll one-liner sink in as he greeted some very startled Green Zone troops. Of course then he couldn't resist laughing at his own joke. The nervous troops laughed too. You'd better laugh when your commander in chief tells a joke.
Bush's surprise lasted five hours and you'd better believe that the units of Army and Marines in charge of "palace guard" around the Green Zone were at DefCon 3 and at Pucker Factor 10.
Five hours. Somebody at the Pentagon probably said that's just about all the time that he could have on the ground without some Iraqi spotting him and getting cell phones buzzing all over Baghdad, "Hey Mo, you still got that Four-Deuce mortar tube in the basement?"
Five hours and RUN LIKE HELL! That's Bush's Brave New Iraqi for you. Mission Accomplished!
So he ducks in, ducks out, sleeps all the way home and arrives in the Rose Garden all fresh and full of himself as usual.
This is a six-year nightmare and I just can't wake up.
Gah!
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Blumenthal
Again, thanks to Salon for publishing Blumenthal's article on Bush and Zarqari. The laxity and complicity of the main stream media is getting truly frightening.
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Home Audience Tires of Bush's Stunts: Wishful Thinking
The Republican Party, especially with Bush as spokesmodel, is successful because these people know their audience. They know what the Home Audience wants and they deliver that.
The Home Audience doesn't do nuance any more than Bush himself does. The Home Audience wants a good Story. They want a heartwarming saga in which heroes may go through a little hardship and shelling, but the world is put right at the end.
Not a drama--no MacBeth or Julius Caesar, where leaders make arrogant mistakes and receive their just punishment. The Home Audience can tolerate a Story in which only the correct characters learn only the correct lessons. The "bad boy" teenager grows up to become a sober young man and business leader. The book-smart officer is humbled by the homespun practical wisdom of the "simple" boys in his platoon. The patriotic young woman serves near the front lines, is wounded and captured, is rescued, and returns to civilian life. But the leader, the Decider, is exempt from learning. Instead, he demonstrates Strength of Character. He goes through a dark moment but his resolve never weakens, and he brings justice to the world. Thanks to him, evildoers are killed.
The Home Audience understands Story. The Home Audience does NOT understand facts. Facts are confusing and contradictory. They don't fit the Story.
Sidney Blumenthal and many other capable political analysts and writers can point out inconsistencies, lies, and treachery all they want. They can write of young people dying, civilians killed, and prisoners tortured.
But if they want the Home Audience to notice, they'd better start writing a Story.
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Wham Bam Bush
Elbonius notes: Five hours and RUN LIKE HELL! That's Bush's Brave New Iraqi for you. Mission Accomplished!
That's not just how Bush "tours" Iraq - he does the same thing at his "public" fundraisers here in the good old U. S. of A.
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Doesn't work anymore?
It's working great with one particular group. Peter Daou:
"Reporters are tripping over themselves proclaiming Bush's 'recovery' and the Dems' confusion."
The media is ready to tell us that 38% approval means all is right again with the administration, and the Dems are finished now that Bushie has his josh and swagger routine back.
If his suit had showed off his "package," they'd all be swooning like schoolgirls again.
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Sad, Sad Man
How far does Bush Derangement Syndrome reach? This essay is a case in point - ignore the complexity of the situation on the ground in Iraq and make it all seem to be just a "Bush did this" diatribe on why we need to cut and run.
As an aside - Mr Blumenthal wrote a similar piece on the Guardian webste the other day - and even that audience was not buying it. I am sure that Salon will be a much easier sell job.
Does it ever occur to this writer that the people of the Middle East actually may have motivations of their own? That what happens in Washington is really not their prime motivation - and specifically what happens to Bush is totally out of their perspective? You have so many flavors of insurgents - Sunnis trying to restore their privileges, Shias (Sadrists) shucking for Iran, just plain thugs running a kidnap and rob operation and on top of it all - Zarqawi running a terror and "let's start a civil war" operation. Zarqawi had the face recognition because he ran a great PR shop - and he certainly did not need the help of the Pentagon to promote it.
But there is one truth - the "insurgents" all have one common goal - and that is to prevent the current government from getting up enough momentum to start moving the country forward. Because when that happens, they lose the ability to use guns to force their point. And with Zarqawi dead - maybe the violence can drop a notch and just let the "freedom fighters" kill themselves (as they seem to be doing so well in Baghdad)
Making progress in Iraq is like herding a pack of cats in heat - it happens slowly and it does not run on a schedule. The people of this area have their own culture and their own speed in getting things done. But if encouraging them to move forward and control their destiny is wrong - then what is your "delusional" alternative?