Letters to the Editor
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Bush's motive was entirely cynical
Mr. Kamiya writes:
"In Bush's eyes, then and now, invading Iraq was like killing Cho before he started his killing spree. "
Perhaps. But I believe the evidence points more strongly to the Mickey Herskowitz theory. (see for example: http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1028-01.htm)
It seems more likely that Bush and Rove (who knows about Cheney and Wolfowitz et. al.?) wanted a small war to pump up his popularity. Bush wanted to be a war president. As a war president he would have the political capital to get his far right wing dreams enacted into law - destroy medicare, social security, shift the tax base from earned to unearned income, and so on - and thus the invasion of Iraq.
None of these idiot neocons and Texacons dreamed it would be anything but a cakewalk. Dump a dictator, in and out, peace be with us.
If Bush really invaded for the reason Kamiya cites, Bush would be far more willing to admit at this point that the invasion was wrong. Bush can never, ever admit that he initiated this disaster for such a despicable reason and is therefore the ultimate bitter-ender.
Do not look for anything reasonable from GWB and Karl Rove. They are all about power.
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There's a Virginia Tech every single day in Iraq
There is so little discussion in our media, or from our church's pulpits, about the deaths of Iraqi civilians. It is impossible to escape the conclusion that we Americans view their deaths as somehow less important than those of our countrymen and women.
There continues to be, as there should, at least lip-service paid to the horror of the deaths of our military men and women. But if all lives are of equal value, then the fact 200 Iraqi's have died for each US soldier, means we would automatically be spilling 200 times the ink, devoting 200 times the tv and radio airtime focusing our those deaths as we do on those of our own. But we don't. Not even close. It seems as if the Iraqi's are "the other" and are somehow less.
We must find a way to move beyond this stunted world view, to enlarge our souls, to regain our humanity as a people. But in order to do this, we must look clearly at what we have done, and see both the pride and the folly in our actions. Then we need to learn from this and try to do what we can to mitigate the horror for the Iraqi people.
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You are too generous to Bush
Gary, you make the following statements:
"He truly believed he was honoring the dead and preventing another atrocity."
"In their eyes, their intentions were good."
"Bush is a devout Christian"
I don't think any of these are true.
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Thank you, Mr. Kamiya
Thank you, Mr. Kamiya, for your cogent and articulate voicing of the feelings I suspect a lot of us have been harboring, secretly, all week. I've been loathe to speak those thoughts out loud, for fear of the attack I knew would come. I'm not one to usually shy away from difficult conversations, but for this one, well, I didn't have the guts. I'm ashamed to admit that it's been easier to turn off the television and radio--to look away--rather than feel the anguish at the absence of equal coverage for all those deaths which don't warrant coverage on the nightly news. Thank you for speaking up. It gives me courage to do the same.
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Thank you!
This piece is absolutely eloquent. And I've thought this for a long time. It means a lot to me, at least, to know that there are other people who see what is truly happening, how America has sold its soul in this war and the suffering of the people of Iraq. And the suffering and death of people everywhere from the blind justifications of war. No more perfect words were said. Thank you!
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yer both right..
things like the Iraq war are always overdetermined. Simple explanations are not usually the right ones. Remember that the meaning of Occam's Razor is not that the simplest explanation is usually the right one, but, rather, the correct explanation of anything is only as complicated as it needs to be, and no more so. Meaning, that sometimes things really ARE complicated.
Thus, Gary, you're right about Bush's essential nature. I think he's a classic disordered personality...both cynical, and deeply religious.
Joel Hart, I think you're correct as well. I was a proponent of the Herzkowitz theory before there WAS a Herzkowitz theory.
I think one big reason why both our domestic and our foreign policies are so utterly disordered, and have been, even before 9/11, is that the men at the top are disordered. Cheney, disordered by his ego, and his unbridled arrogance and greed, Bush, disordered by his profound neuroses centering on his father. Leadership means never admitting you're wrong? Where the fuck did GW get his MBA? In Stalin's Kremlin? Shit. That statement tells you everything you need to know about GW Bush. He's mad as a hatter.
You see this a lot in business organizations. If the people at the top are relatively sane, then the business tends to be relatively sane...just like a family, in that way.
But, if the people at the top are borderline personalities, or disordered personalities--and GW Bush is a classic case of that..how much more evidence does any of us need, for chrissakes?--then whatever they have wrought will also be disordered...and if there's one thing that has characterized our government for the last six years, it's disorder.
Because, believe it or not, while I'm a lefty in just about every sense of the word, I was willing to accept a deeply conservative president, if he showed himself to be a competent, aware, mature, worldly leader who could do the job. Unfortunately, that's not what we got. We got a man who is probably very close to the line between disordered and psychotic. And was from the moment of his inauguration.
So...sadly, yer both right, Gary, Joel. This situation is utterly intractable, and will continue so, until Congress gets the courage to begin impeachment proceedings against Cheney, then against Bush. Until then, we will have chaos. You cannot clean out the stables until you pick up the shovel.
Congress??? If anyone from the House is reading this, it's time to pick up a shovel.