Same old song and dance
Bush on Iraq offensive, cites 'tangible progress'
Bush is in the middle of his traveling roadshow to bolster support for his war in Iraq because his administration is heartened by an increase in his approval rating in the NYT/CBS News poll. Woo Hoo! Finally more that a third of the country thinks he's fit for the job he was re-elected to last year.
He's up to 40% now, so what does he do with his newfound "political capital"? He goes on the road and spouts the same old rhetoric he's been spewing since he declared "mission accomplished" in 2003. But now his cheerleading is tempered with some acknowledgement of his cluelessness.
Meaning basically that his administration had no plans beyond the "Shock and Awe" stage of the invasion. Apparently they didn't anticipate any opposition once they pounded Bagdad into rubble.
He left some bits out, though. Conspicuously absent was any mention of the resumption of oil production that his administration claimed would fund reconstruction. Current production is at about 1.8 million barrels a day, far short of the 2.4 - 3.0 million barrels a day predicted by VP Dick Cheney in 2003, which would have generated $20 Billion annually to help pay for reconstruction.
Instead, we get to foot the bill. You break it, you bought it, right? Only we don't get to keep it. Once it's fixed, we give it back to what will most likely be a theocracy, and within a decade Iraq will be right back where they started before we stepped in, just with new players.
Not only that, but the bill will be padded.
Bush also changed his wording slightly, no longer calling the opposition "insurgents" or "rebels". His staff doesn't want to give them any semblance of humanity. So now he calls them exclusively "terrorists" or - this one kills me - "Saddamists". Despite all evidence to the contrary, his administration is still trying to tie Saddam Hussein to Al-Qaeda. Hussein is gone, Al-Qaeda is supporting the insurgency and supplying funding and car bomb fodder, yet I didn't hear them mentioned in his speeches. No, they're Saddamists, as if they were there supporting him before our invasion and occupation of Iraq.
And so we're back to the same old song and dance. If we don't continue this war, Iraq will once again be a safe haven for terrorists to plot new attacks against our nation. Never mind that the last attack was done by Saudis and plotted not in Iraq, but Afghanistan and even within our own country by friends and former business associates of our fearless leader.
The lyrics have changes slightly, but the song remains the same. Never mind the facts. Believe what I say or you won't be safe. And we all know what happended the last time he said that.
Bush is in the middle of his traveling roadshow to bolster support for his war in Iraq because his administration is heartened by an increase in his approval rating in the NYT/CBS News poll. Woo Hoo! Finally more that a third of the country thinks he's fit for the job he was re-elected to last year.
He's up to 40% now, so what does he do with his newfound "political capital"? He goes on the road and spouts the same old rhetoric he's been spewing since he declared "mission accomplished" in 2003. But now his cheerleading is tempered with some acknowledgement of his cluelessness.
"Reconstruction has not always gone as well as we had hoped, primarily because of the security challenges on the ground," Bush said.
Meaning basically that his administration had no plans beyond the "Shock and Awe" stage of the invasion. Apparently they didn't anticipate any opposition once they pounded Bagdad into rubble.
He left some bits out, though. Conspicuously absent was any mention of the resumption of oil production that his administration claimed would fund reconstruction. Current production is at about 1.8 million barrels a day, far short of the 2.4 - 3.0 million barrels a day predicted by VP Dick Cheney in 2003, which would have generated $20 Billion annually to help pay for reconstruction.
Instead, we get to foot the bill. You break it, you bought it, right? Only we don't get to keep it. Once it's fixed, we give it back to what will most likely be a theocracy, and within a decade Iraq will be right back where they started before we stepped in, just with new players.
Not only that, but the bill will be padded.
Democrats in Congress criticized the administration's oversight of the rebuilding effort, noting Wednesday that nearly two-thirds of the $20.9 billion earmarked for reconstruction was unspent or directed to other programs.
Uncalculated billions have been lost to waste and fraud, Democrats said.
"America's troops and taxpayers have paid an enormous price for the Bush administration's continued missteps and mistakes in Iraq, and we cannot continue to blindly pay it," Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada said.
Bush also changed his wording slightly, no longer calling the opposition "insurgents" or "rebels". His staff doesn't want to give them any semblance of humanity. So now he calls them exclusively "terrorists" or - this one kills me - "Saddamists". Despite all evidence to the contrary, his administration is still trying to tie Saddam Hussein to Al-Qaeda. Hussein is gone, Al-Qaeda is supporting the insurgency and supplying funding and car bomb fodder, yet I didn't hear them mentioned in his speeches. No, they're Saddamists, as if they were there supporting him before our invasion and occupation of Iraq.
"Victory will be achieved when the terrorists and Saddamists can no longer threaten Iraq's democracy, when the Iraqi security forces can provide for the safety of their own citizens, and when Iraq is not a safe haven for terrorists to plot new attacks against our nation," Bush said.
And so we're back to the same old song and dance. If we don't continue this war, Iraq will once again be a safe haven for terrorists to plot new attacks against our nation. Never mind that the last attack was done by Saudis and plotted not in Iraq, but Afghanistan and even within our own country by friends and former business associates of our fearless leader.
The lyrics have changes slightly, but the song remains the same. Never mind the facts. Believe what I say or you won't be safe. And we all know what happended the last time he said that.
posted by Wyld Card at
10:39 AM
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