Prayer and Probability

I Stand Corrected
I was wrong

Yesterday I said there would be honor in President Bush’s Veterans Day message in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania but there would be none for the messenger. Well, I was wrong. There was no honor in the message. I honestly believed that Bush would not use a day set aside to honor the sacrifices of America’s veterans for his own selfish concerns. I was wrong. I thought he would not try to wash away his lies and deception with the blood of others. I was wrong. I did not believe that any President of the United States would stoop so low as to dishonor our men and women in the military. I was wrong. You see I forgot the Bush creed; no sacrifice is too great for others to make. I will not make that mistake again. To quote Mr. Bush, “There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again." Well put and well said Mr. President.

Not content with fighting an unjust war in Iraq under false pretenses, Mr. Bush yesterday extended the fight to the American people. In a shameful effort to hide the duplicity and illegitimacy of his administration’s reasons for war in Iraq President Bush declared a new war on truth and history. He did it with a standard Karl Rove tactic of projecting his own use of lies and dirty tricks onto his opponents. Karl may be down but he is not out, yet.

During his opening salvo Mr. Bush declared,” It is deeply irresponsible to rewrite the history of how the war began.” Now that is true when taken strictly in the context of the sentence itself. But the assumptions, that Bush and company told the truth initially, it implies are totally false. Like all good lies you must throw a little truth into the mix to make it more believable. Karl’s thought processes have always been wide and shallow not deep.

There is only one good thing that can be said about the Administration’s Iraq Policy. It has been totally consistent. They have lied every single time. The Bush-Iraq War was not a result of 9/11. It had been planned out years in advance before the Supreme Court’s appointment of Bush to the Presidency [1]. This certainly gives a new meaning to Bush’s statement yesterday when he said, “Like the ideology of communism, our new enemy teaches that innocent individuals can be sacrificed to serve a political vision.” The Bush agenda and vision has already sacrificed thousands of victims with no end in sight. His vision was a bomb in search of a fuse. He had to wait less than eight months for someone to strike a match. Only reluctantly did the Bush Administration go after Osama bin Laden the true perpetrator of the 9/11 attack. And considering their lack of success in bringing him to justice we can’t help but wonder if in their hearts and minds his capture was ever a high priority. Certainly the outlay of men and money against bin Laden as compared to that against Saddam Hussein gives pause.

In an attempt to manipulate the emotions of the American people Bush invoked the dead specter of Communism to rally support. He had this to say yesterday,” Like the ideology of communism, our new enemy pursues totalitarian aims. Its leaders pretend to be an aggrieved party, representing the powerless against imperial enemies. In truth, they have endless ambitions of imperial domination -- and they wish to make everyone powerless, except themselves.” I ask you, does that sound like al Qaeda or does it sound like the dogma and ideology of Bush and his legion of right-wing extremists?

In a desperate attempt to salvage his failing Presidency Bush threw down the gauntlet. This time he openly declared war on the truth. Mr. President I have but two things to say. Change it has to come. We won’t be fooled again.

[1] Roots of Bush's War

The Bush Credo - No Sacrifice Is Too Great For Others To Make.