President Bush: King of Denial
Oh, I get it now. Before, I thought George W. Bush was a liar. Now it turns out that he may just be in an unbelievable state of denial.
Here’s the latest assessment on Iraq from the campaign trail: We are helping the Iraqi people to build a new democracy. Forget the pessimists, they were wrong about the occupations of Germany and Japan too. Saddam is in prison, so America is safer. “Freedom,” says Mr. Bush, “is on the march.”
Now, I know that Mr. Bush doesn’t follow the news. That’s how he avoids having the liberal media bias slip into his decision making. But, seriously, shouldn’t someone slip this man a newspaper?
An article in the New York Times yesterday makes it clear that outside of the president’s circle of handlers, the people who are paid to analyze what’s going on are distancing themselves further and further from his rosy assessments.
A new National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq paints a dismal picture of that country’s future. The best case scenario for the country over the next eighteen months is drift, along more or less the lines that it's at right now. The worst case scenario is all-out civil war. The middle ground is spiraling extremism and fragmentation -- basically a continuation of the evolution, or rather devolution, we've seen over the last year.
Numerous reports and findings have come out over the past few weeks to back this up, from people inside the administration and out, confirming or bolstering these findings.
Conservative Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska said on the Senate floor last week that the White House’s plan to divert $3.4 billion from reconstruction efforts to emergency security efforts was troubling. "Now, that does not add up, in my opinion, to a pretty picture, to a picture that shows that we're winning. But it does add up to this: an acknowledgment that we are in deep trouble." Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana (also a Republican) also expressed exasperation at the administration's rosy prewar assessments that as soon as Hussein was deposed, a euphoric Iraqi population would embrace democracy." He charged, "The nonsense of that is [now] apparent."
But, really, is anyone who is the least bit objective surprised by any of this?
For most of us—and I mean those of us who think things through for ourselves rather than simply chanting along with the mantras of Steve Gill and Fox News—it has been clear for quite some time that this foray into the Iraqi desert is going really, really bad, by pretty much any measurement.
But, of course, Mr. Bush says that this isn’t true. Things in Iraq are proceeding splendidly. Yes, there have been stumbling blocks, but we’re on the right track, by golly.
Seriously, how many American soldiers are we willing to sacrifice to this man’s arrogance? He’s had numerous opportunities to acknowledge his mistakes and regroup, but has seized none of them.
Daily suicide bombings are wracking the country. American and British citizens are being kidnapped and casualties continue to rise as the country slips deeper into chaos. In the first 17 days of September, 52 US soldiers have died, putting the month on track to become the second deadliest month of this whole fiasco.
This, apparently, is the right track. This, apparently, is the sound of freedom on the march.
Forget the CBS memos, folks. This election is about words, excuses, incompetence, chaos and death. It’s also about lies. So maybe I get it after all.
Here’s the latest assessment on Iraq from the campaign trail: We are helping the Iraqi people to build a new democracy. Forget the pessimists, they were wrong about the occupations of Germany and Japan too. Saddam is in prison, so America is safer. “Freedom,” says Mr. Bush, “is on the march.”
Now, I know that Mr. Bush doesn’t follow the news. That’s how he avoids having the liberal media bias slip into his decision making. But, seriously, shouldn’t someone slip this man a newspaper?
An article in the New York Times yesterday makes it clear that outside of the president’s circle of handlers, the people who are paid to analyze what’s going on are distancing themselves further and further from his rosy assessments.
A new National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq paints a dismal picture of that country’s future. The best case scenario for the country over the next eighteen months is drift, along more or less the lines that it's at right now. The worst case scenario is all-out civil war. The middle ground is spiraling extremism and fragmentation -- basically a continuation of the evolution, or rather devolution, we've seen over the last year.
Numerous reports and findings have come out over the past few weeks to back this up, from people inside the administration and out, confirming or bolstering these findings.
Conservative Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska said on the Senate floor last week that the White House’s plan to divert $3.4 billion from reconstruction efforts to emergency security efforts was troubling. "Now, that does not add up, in my opinion, to a pretty picture, to a picture that shows that we're winning. But it does add up to this: an acknowledgment that we are in deep trouble." Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana (also a Republican) also expressed exasperation at the administration's rosy prewar assessments that as soon as Hussein was deposed, a euphoric Iraqi population would embrace democracy." He charged, "The nonsense of that is [now] apparent."
But, really, is anyone who is the least bit objective surprised by any of this?
For most of us—and I mean those of us who think things through for ourselves rather than simply chanting along with the mantras of Steve Gill and Fox News—it has been clear for quite some time that this foray into the Iraqi desert is going really, really bad, by pretty much any measurement.
But, of course, Mr. Bush says that this isn’t true. Things in Iraq are proceeding splendidly. Yes, there have been stumbling blocks, but we’re on the right track, by golly.
Seriously, how many American soldiers are we willing to sacrifice to this man’s arrogance? He’s had numerous opportunities to acknowledge his mistakes and regroup, but has seized none of them.
Daily suicide bombings are wracking the country. American and British citizens are being kidnapped and casualties continue to rise as the country slips deeper into chaos. In the first 17 days of September, 52 US soldiers have died, putting the month on track to become the second deadliest month of this whole fiasco.
This, apparently, is the right track. This, apparently, is the sound of freedom on the march.
Forget the CBS memos, folks. This election is about words, excuses, incompetence, chaos and death. It’s also about lies. So maybe I get it after all.
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