According to George Bush, the Iraq war is boosting the US economy. Recently, he said to NBC’s Ann Curry, “I think actually the spending in the war might help with jobs because we’re buying equipment, and people are working.”
Ah, the insensitivity of Bush illogic. Bush is killing our troops, Iraqis, and Afghans to pump up a financial system on life support. So why not strike Iran? If war spending is creating jobs, wage more wars to revive a gasping economy. Makes sense to George Bush.
On the fifth anniversary of the illegal occupation of Iraq, Bush offered more illogic-that the invasion has made the world a better place and the United States safer. He said:
Five years into this battle, there is an understandable debate over whether the war was worth fighting, whether the fight is worth winning, and whether we can win it. The answers are clear to me. Removing Saddam Hussein from power was the right decision, and this is a fight that America can and must win.
For Bush to say “there is understandable debate over whether the war was worth fighting” is interesting since debate has never been encouraged by this president. While others deliberated the case for war, the Decider was not allowing weapons inspectors to do their jobs, was not searching his soul, and was not losing sleep over the most important decision a president can make. Instead, he was obsessed with being a war president in order to be a peace president, with outdoing Poppy, and with using the Middle East as a bloody arena for his malevolent lust for power. Add to this his egomaniacal business venture to control the resources of an oil-rich nation. The deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis never entered his consciousness nor did the sacrifice of military families. To Bush, the words “sacrifice,” “patriotism,” and “freedom” are devices he has used as recruitment tools and support for war. Mission accomplished. But Bush’s utterances, arrogance, and actions also have inspired terrorists and hatred of America.
Clearly, George Bush lacks the ability to recognize facts. So, he creates his own reality, one unique to him and to supporters with whom he holds sway. And he stands behind his decisions even when experts differ. Bush listens only to people who agree with him and either scorns or forces retirement on those who don’t.
When Ann Curry asked Bush about the possibility of being wrong and that he wouldn’t want soldiers to die in vain, he said:
Well, we’re not wrong in this case. And the surge is proving us not wrong. Secondly, failure in Iraq would’ve been an unmit-, will be an unmitigated disaster in the Middle East. I mean it would empower the radicals who still want to hurt us. It would embolden Iran which is a threat to peace. And it would’ve abandoned the Iraqi people, I mean, who are counting on the United States to continue help them having liberated them from a brutal tyrant who murdered thousands and thousands of his people. So I don’t believe it was wrong, as a matter of fact I believe it’s right and I believe history will prove it’s right.
All of this is just another example-as if we needed more-of Bush insensitivity and illogic, which, during the course of his presidency, he has elevated to an art. Yes, George Bush is one artistic criminal.
Let’s break down Bush’s response to Curry.
Scrutinize his saying that “the surge is proving us not wrong” and that failure in Iraq would be an “unmitigated disaster.” Actually, it is Bush’s crime of invading and occupying Iraq that is unmitigated disaster. And while violence may be slightly down because of the surge, troops and Iraqis are still dying. Each death is one too many. Sectarianism remains a huge problem and so does civil war.
Now, take a look at Iran as a “threat to peace.” We have proven that we are the hazard to peace, a greater danger than Iran. In fact, the Pew Research Center polled people in 15 countries and found that there is more concern about our presence in Iraq than about Iran’s ambition to build nuclear weapons.
Examine Bush’s spin that the Iraqis are “counting on the United States” for help after we’ve “liberated them from a brutal tyrant who murdered thousands and thousands of his people.” The truth is that most Iraqis don’t perceive us to be liberators, saying they preferred Saddam Hussein rather than US occupation of their country. Plus, we are responsible for killing thousands and thousands of Iraqis.
Yet, Bush can’t grasp that he is, was, or ever could be wrong. Many believe he has no conscience to guide him. Tragically, this means Bush lacks the capacity to understand that he, himself, is the brutal tyrant responsible for countless deaths and disasters. And, so, removing him from power is not only the right decision, it is crucial. It is, also, urgent, because George Bush may commit more crimes against humanity in order to “help” our faltering economy.
Missy Beattie lives in New York City. She’s written for National Public Radio and Nashville Life Magazine. An outspoken critic of the Bush Administration and the war in Iraq, she’s a member of Gold Star Families for Peace. She completed a novel last year, but since the death of her nephew, Marine Lance Cpl. Chase J. Comley, in Iraq on August 6,’05, she has been writing political articles. She can be reached at: Missybeat@aol.com
