« Vets At UH | Main | New Pew Poll »
August 22, 2007
Delusion Watch
There is no doubt that the Iraq War will be the defining episode of George W. Bush's presidency, for better or worse. A final judgment, by historians and the American public, won't come for decades. The reviews to date, however, have been less than a rave. Over 3,700 brave American soldiers are dead, thousands more have been wounded (many severely), hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have died, and an essentially non-functional Iraqi government has taken the month of August off while our troops stay and fight.
Two respected senior United States Senators -- Levin (D- Michigan) and Warner (R-Virginia) -- have just returned from Iraq and declared that the prime minister, Maliki, must go. (Note: the right wing was awfully quick to attack only Levin on this, why does Warner get a pass?) A massive truck bomb went off last week killing over 500 people, and apparently armed groups have seized control of Iraq's electricity grid.
In short, despite rosy depictions to the contrary, Iraq remains a disaster. The administration is set to begin releasing a grim analysis by American intelligence agencies of the Maliki government's ability to overcome the sectarian strife in Iraq. An utter mess.
What does the President have to say? Aren't you glad to know that a free Iraq is within reach? Amazing. President Bush, who won't even defend the Maliki government himself, nonetheless expects us to buy that freedom is within reach. That's rich -- right up there with the "we'll be greeted as liberators", "the insurgency is in its last throes", and "mission accomplished" lines.
In a particularly ironic touch, Mr. Bush trotted out an Vietnam analogy in his VFW convention speech, cautioning that a withdrawal now could result in destruction similar to what happened in Southeast Asia after the U.S. departed. There are indeed valid concerns about a rapid American pullout from Iraq, but we find it interesting that an administration which so resisted comparisions of Iraq to Vietnam, is now making the very comparison to advance its own arguments -- ah, GOP hypocrisy, we know it well.
George W. Bush seems simply out of touch on the difficult situation in Iraq. He truly seems to believe his rhetoric about happy days to come in Mesopotamia, no matter what the facts say. Well, how else can the guy sleep at night? God help us.
Posted by houtopia at August 22, 2007 11:09 PM