Thursday, December 15, 2005
Deconstructing George W. Bush
“Faulty Intelligence,” Never mind
George Bush actually admitted yesterday that the reasons he invaded Iraq and went to war were wrong and false. In classic Gilda Radner-Emily Litella fashion he went on to say never mind, “Given Saddam's history and the lessons of September the 11th, my decision to remove Saddam Hussein was the right decision.” Say what? The reasons were wrong; the intelligence was false (read manufactured) but the decision was right. It is impossible to reason against such a mind set. It is the mind set of predetermined ideas and actions regardless of any and all evidence to the contrary. It is the mind set of dictators and demagogues.
“In the war on terror, Iraq is now the central front…We're hunting down the terrorists and their supporters. We will fight this war without wavering.” In saying this Bush failed to mention that the terrorists are in Iraq BECAUSE of the American invasion. He gives as justification for his war, his invasion of Iraq. He goes on to say. “We removed Saddam Hussein from power because he was a threat to our security.” But just two paragraphs later he admits the reasons for saying and believing this were false. ”And it is true that much of the intelligence turned out to be wrong.” Notice he implies that he didn’t know it was wrong from the start.
Now I suppose it is possible that Stephen Hadley, the Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor at the time of the Iraqi invasion, did forget to tell his bosses, Condoleezza Rice and George Bush that the CIA had written 2 memos stating that Iraq was not trying to build WMDs. He admitted that he did forget and did not tell them. But that does make me wonder why he was not fired immediately? Instead he was promoted to National Security Advisor after Rice was promoted to Secretary of State. Oh well, ours not to reason why.
Bush also said, “the terrorists cite Vietnam as a reason they can prevail,” and found inspiration from, “the collapse of the American power in Vietnam -- and how they ran and left their agents.” What horrible irony that he doesn’t realize that had he volunteered to go to Vietnam instead of cutting and running, had Cheney and most of the others in the administration volunteered instead of scampering after deferments perhaps things would have been different in Nam and the terrorists would not have that inspiration.
On the many mistakes he has made in Iraq, Bush says, ‘We have fixed what was not working, and we have listened to those who know best: our military commanders.” This begs several questions, like when did Bush start listening? You would think that since he was determined to invade Iraq he would get and listen to his military commanders’ advice. And he did, he listened to Army Chief of Staff, General Eric Shinseki when Shinseki told him that at least 250,000 thousand ‘boots on the ground' would be needed. He listened to General Tommy Franks, Commander, United States Central Command, the General in charge of the invasion when Franks told him more than 200,000 troops would be needed. Bush listened he just didn’t follow their advice. Instead he went along with Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld when they said 130,000 would be more than enough. Let’s see here, Bush starts a war based on lies and false information, and then doesn’t take the advice of his military commanders instead relying on the thoughts and ideas
of a guy who went AWOL from the National Guard, a draft dodger, and a post Korean War Navy pilot who never saw a day of combat. These are the guys that are going to make America safer?
They can’t even make the troops they sent to Iraq safer. To make up for not sending enough troops, they under equipped those they did send. They sent insufficient supplies and equipment and much of the material they did send was defective, so much so that the troops’ families back in the States had to provide the proper equipment for them. That is how the Bush Administration has honored the men and women they sent to Iraq.
The Bush Credo - No Sacrifice Is Too Great For Others To
Make.
“Faulty Intelligence,” Never mind
George Bush actually admitted yesterday that the reasons he invaded Iraq and went to war were wrong and false. In classic Gilda Radner-Emily Litella fashion he went on to say never mind, “Given Saddam's history and the lessons of September the 11th, my decision to remove Saddam Hussein was the right decision.” Say what? The reasons were wrong; the intelligence was false (read manufactured) but the decision was right. It is impossible to reason against such a mind set. It is the mind set of predetermined ideas and actions regardless of any and all evidence to the contrary. It is the mind set of dictators and demagogues.
“In the war on terror, Iraq is now the central front…We're hunting down the terrorists and their supporters. We will fight this war without wavering.” In saying this Bush failed to mention that the terrorists are in Iraq BECAUSE of the American invasion. He gives as justification for his war, his invasion of Iraq. He goes on to say. “We removed Saddam Hussein from power because he was a threat to our security.” But just two paragraphs later he admits the reasons for saying and believing this were false. ”And it is true that much of the intelligence turned out to be wrong.” Notice he implies that he didn’t know it was wrong from the start.
Now I suppose it is possible that Stephen Hadley, the Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor at the time of the Iraqi invasion, did forget to tell his bosses, Condoleezza Rice and George Bush that the CIA had written 2 memos stating that Iraq was not trying to build WMDs. He admitted that he did forget and did not tell them. But that does make me wonder why he was not fired immediately? Instead he was promoted to National Security Advisor after Rice was promoted to Secretary of State. Oh well, ours not to reason why.
Bush also said, “the terrorists cite Vietnam as a reason they can prevail,” and found inspiration from, “the collapse of the American power in Vietnam -- and how they ran and left their agents.” What horrible irony that he doesn’t realize that had he volunteered to go to Vietnam instead of cutting and running, had Cheney and most of the others in the administration volunteered instead of scampering after deferments perhaps things would have been different in Nam and the terrorists would not have that inspiration.
On the many mistakes he has made in Iraq, Bush says, ‘We have fixed what was not working, and we have listened to those who know best: our military commanders.” This begs several questions, like when did Bush start listening? You would think that since he was determined to invade Iraq he would get and listen to his military commanders’ advice. And he did, he listened to Army Chief of Staff, General Eric Shinseki when Shinseki told him that at least 250,000 thousand ‘boots on the ground' would be needed. He listened to General Tommy Franks, Commander, United States Central Command, the General in charge of the invasion when Franks told him more than 200,000 troops would be needed. Bush listened he just didn’t follow their advice. Instead he went along with Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld when they said 130,000 would be more than enough. Let’s see here, Bush starts a war based on lies and false information, and then doesn’t take the advice of his military commanders instead relying on the thoughts and ideas
of a guy who went AWOL from the National Guard, a draft dodger, and a post Korean War Navy pilot who never saw a day of combat. These are the guys that are going to make America safer?
They can’t even make the troops they sent to Iraq safer. To make up for not sending enough troops, they under equipped those they did send. They sent insufficient supplies and equipment and much of the material they did send was defective, so much so that the troops’ families back in the States had to provide the proper equipment for them. That is how the Bush Administration has honored the men and women they sent to Iraq.
The Bush Credo - No Sacrifice Is Too Great For Others To
Make.
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