Monday, May 22, 2006
Stop the silly happytalk!
President Bush today spoke about the "incremental progress" that is being made in Iraq. For Bush the swearing in of the Iraq government was a "watershed event" and he says that "freedom is moving".
The odd thing about this story is that the link provided above leads to MSNBC. That site also is running a story on the same day as the Bush speech that quotes coalition forces saying about the situation in the city of Ramadi, "we don't have control of this". The article has this to say about the way coalition forces see things in that city:
I could link to other examples that show accurately the appalling state of things in Iraq. The BBC report on how unsafe it is to report on how unsafe it is, and the ludicrousness of Blairs dash into the greenzone. The fact is however, unless you are a hopeless Bush apologist, you already know the truth. Iraq is to stability what a spark is to gunpowder.
Yet today the President claims that the situation in Iraq is incrementally improving. The formation of the Iraqi Government brings us yet another turning point. Freedom is on the march and the world can look in wonderment at the formation of a liberal democracy in the very heart of the middle east.
Well guess what Mr. President... We ain't buying it. Well most of us aren't anyway. There are a few died in the wool koolaid drinkers who will still believe you this time, I'm sure. The rest of us have heard this baseless happytalk all too many times before and stopped believing it long long ago. It is precisely due to this unrealisticly rosy outlook that the Presidents credibility is at an all time low.
People who are able to look at reality and see the truth, know full well that nothing except the names in the suits has changed over there. When tomorrow brings word of the mounting American death toll and the next massive car bomb targeting Iraqi recruits, which it will, Bush's happy talk will have saved precisely zero lives. The war goes on and no amount of bluster and swagger will stop it. And the Presidents credibility suffers each time he tries to tell us that happy talk is what is true, only to have his speech punctuated by news of another deadly day in Iraq.
Only leadership that is able to acknowledge the true state of affairs, leaders who take off the rose colored glasses and look smolderingldering gray and blood red (not rosy red) reality that is Iraq will be able to lead us from the mess this President has created. Bush is incapable of such honesty in leadership and his word on Iraq is manifestly dishonest.
The odd thing about this story is that the link provided above leads to MSNBC. That site also is running a story on the same day as the Bush speech that quotes coalition forces saying about the situation in the city of Ramadi, "we don't have control of this". The article has this to say about the way coalition forces see things in that city:
For troops, status quo unacceptableThe following description in the story shows that the security situation in Ramadi is far far worse than previous rotations of Americans had to deal with:
However, the status quo with its bloodletting doesn't sit well with the troops.
"We just go out, lose people and come back," said Iraqi Col. Ali Hassan, whose men fight alongside the Americans. "The insurgents are moving freely everywhere. We need a big operation. We need control."
Photos highlight contrast of then and now
Inside a palatial Saddam-era guesthouse near the Euphrates River - now a fortified U.S. base where sand-filled barriers and camouflage netting surround even the portable toilets - Marines stare in wonder at photos of U.S. troops deployed here less two years ago.
The pictures show their predecessors riding in open-topped vehicles, often with little armor. They show freshly painted buildings, since destroyed or splattered with gunfire. They show U.S. troops walking through a downtown marketplace, a casual outing unthinkable today.
I could link to other examples that show accurately the appalling state of things in Iraq. The BBC report on how unsafe it is to report on how unsafe it is, and the ludicrousness of Blairs dash into the greenzone. The fact is however, unless you are a hopeless Bush apologist, you already know the truth. Iraq is to stability what a spark is to gunpowder.
Yet today the President claims that the situation in Iraq is incrementally improving. The formation of the Iraqi Government brings us yet another turning point. Freedom is on the march and the world can look in wonderment at the formation of a liberal democracy in the very heart of the middle east.
Well guess what Mr. President... We ain't buying it. Well most of us aren't anyway. There are a few died in the wool koolaid drinkers who will still believe you this time, I'm sure. The rest of us have heard this baseless happytalk all too many times before and stopped believing it long long ago. It is precisely due to this unrealisticly rosy outlook that the Presidents credibility is at an all time low.
People who are able to look at reality and see the truth, know full well that nothing except the names in the suits has changed over there. When tomorrow brings word of the mounting American death toll and the next massive car bomb targeting Iraqi recruits, which it will, Bush's happy talk will have saved precisely zero lives. The war goes on and no amount of bluster and swagger will stop it. And the Presidents credibility suffers each time he tries to tell us that happy talk is what is true, only to have his speech punctuated by news of another deadly day in Iraq.
Only leadership that is able to acknowledge the true state of affairs, leaders who take off the rose colored glasses and look smolderingldering gray and blood red (not rosy red) reality that is Iraq will be able to lead us from the mess this President has created. Bush is incapable of such honesty in leadership and his word on Iraq is manifestly dishonest.
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