Great Gatsby's Ghost, that was a disturbing display. This man obviously has no grounding in reality at all. In spite of everything; the opinion of the Generals who have been in charge up to now, the American people, the Congress, those serving in uniform... he is moving forward. It is a fine line indeed that separates determined from pathological. I watched the interview (if you missed it, it's in the link) and was just stunned by the lack of appreciation for what he's done. Asked if he thinks he owes the Iraqi people an apology for not doing a better job, Bush says, "Well I don’t, that we didn’t do a better job or they didn’t do a better job?"Yes, those ungrateful Iraqis, don't appreciate all he's done for them. Sucking the civil out of the cradle of civilization was a direct result of the American invasion, but the Iraqi's should be grateful.
"Well, that the United States did not do a better job in providing security after the invasion?" Pelley clarifies.
"Not at all. I think I am proud of the efforts we did. We liberated that country from a tyrant. I think the Iraqi people owe the American people a huge debt of gratitude. That’s the problem here in America. They wonder whether or not there is a gratitude level that’s significant enough in Iraq," Bush replies.
Are we into fitness to serve territory yet, and if not, what the hell else will it take? Willful disregard for the will of the American people is a fitness to serve issue.
He chooses to forge on, ignoring the congress, the citizenry, the Generals on the ground, the troops in uniform. He chooses to ignore his Daddy's men who were sent to bail him out. He ignores all but a few dead enders at the American Enterprise Institute who lust for wars they are not obliged to fight. Then he whines that people like me were picking his plan apart before he had even announced it.
Well, yeah. Of course I did. The day the AEI posted their latest stay-the-course, more-of-the-same-plus-20% scheme, I steeled myself and downloaded it and gave it a read. That report told me what the president would say, and that gave me a head start. (Me and everyone else on both sides of the issue with half a functioning cortex and Acrobat Reader.)
It's time for us - you and me - to stand up and make this madness stop. We had an election, and the results were a mandate on the war. A mandate the president has chosen to ignore in favor of getting a bunch more Americans and Iraqi's killed as he stays the course toward hell, with his vanity war.
On Tuesday, January 27th there will be a rally in Washington against the war and the escalation. If you can attend the rally on the mall, do so. If you can't attend the rally in Washington, find a local one. If you can't attend a rally, make it a point to, on that day, send emails to your congressional representative and your senators and express your support for withdrawing from Iraq.
