Bush's Shrinking Safety Zone

[tw]

Within Republican extremist circles, they are trying to decide where George Jr will appear in relation to Reagan on the list of great presidents. They don't have a clue because of their .... well we have Urbane Guerilla who has the same grasp of reality.

Today George Jr spent a very short time exposed to the public - in Philadelphia. The boos were loud and aggressive - as any patriot must. To have so much animosity towards a president, one must go all the way back to another scumbag president - Richard Nixon. Presidents that lie for their own personal glory must avoid public exposure. Just being on the streets of Philadelphia - well, news reports suggest violence was on the verge of breaking out.

But then, when was the last time an American president caused the death of 100,000 civilians in a conquered nation. He did not even understand the purpose of war - and therefore left Iraq to simmer for seven months without any effort to construct an ally. Only an idiot leader would have done that. And only an idiot would fire the army and police - in direct contradiction to basic military doctrine. Yet we never had reason to attribute intelligent thought to this man.

As new reports note, George Jr is desperately campaigning for his popularity. It's billed as a speech about Iraq. Finally the public has seen George Jr for what he is - as was becoming apparent so many years ago in those contentious posts between MaggieL and this author. Which one correctly identified George Jr's agenda?

A liar only because he is the mental equivalent of Dan Quayle. He has not a clue - does not even read his PDBs or even the famous four page memo from Paul O'Neill (his Sec of Treasury). But George Jr does have a self serving political agenda. And so he goes about the country, carefully protected from the public, presenting Rush Limbaugh type logic in speeches to defend his fiasco - the "Mission Accomplished" war.

Richard Nixon would sacrifice 35,000 of America's best only because he could not lose Vietnam on 'his watch'. Denial is essential when the president is more concerned about his ranking in history than in the purpose of his job. George Jr would even condone torture to secure a high ranking on that historical list - screw America as necessary. But the George Jr was educated as an MBA - means such thinking is consistent with his education.

And so the patriots in the street of Philadelphia loudly called president names that were appropriate.

We only have two acceptable options in this war we created when we Pearl Harbored Iraq. Either we give the generals sufficient troops to end this problem this year - or we pull out within the year. Anything else - such as the George Jr strategy - will only prolong this war even for a decades, massacre America's best in a "Mission Accomplished" war that cannot be won, and make America one of the worlds less respected nations. Either we must get in to fix the problem, or get out that another president so smartly did in Somolia. It requires a president with real balls - and a grasp of the world.

[tw]

In 2004, ABCNEWS, BBC and Time Assess Iraq
What We Found

By nearly every quantifiable measure, the situation has improved since before the war — and also since our last effort.

However, the one exception security also happens to be the yardstick that Iraqis say matters most.

That was a year ago. The BBC last night announced from Baghdad a result of the latest poll conducted by ABC News, Time Magazine, BBC, Der Spiegel, and NHK. By numbers of two to one, Iraqis declared everything as worse than it was under Saddam. Security has never been worse - although neighborhood security and security in the more rural areas has improved. But other things such as jobs, basic human services, etc all were lists as worse. After US spending $2billion just on the electrical grid, Iraq still has less electricity than under Saddam. Amazing what happens when an MBA throws money at a problem - that he created.

BTW, the ABC News version of the same poll is more optimistic noting gains in Shia and Kurd regions. But most important is the Iraq overall opinion that Americans should leave once the Iraqi government takes power. That means get out in one year.

As the president stomped his 'I'm doing good' tour, remember what the numbers really say in Iraq. Things are getting worse every year the US stays there with woefully too few troops. The generals say we needed about 500,000. George Jr only gives then 135,000. Classic of MBA cost controls.

Finally the BBC World Service reporter noted one more glaring fact. Last year, he recorded the poll's report from inside an Iraqi shopping mall. Today, he says, he does not dare enter that mall anymore. Doing so would only invite death or kidnapping. Yes, Iraq is getting worse every year - no matter what the mental midget president declares - while carefully protected from public view. Just like Richard Nixon - who lied when he declared himself 'not a crook'.

[richlevy]

What I found very interesting was GWB's answer to the 'Saddam-9/11' link. He stated that the reason that 9/11 was a reason to invade Iraq was that 9/11 taught him not to ignore danger.

I'm surprised he didn't explain his thinking to Congress when he was seeking authorization. I'm sure they would have understood his reasoning and found it well worth 200 billion dollars and 17,000 US casualties.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Agree or not, at least I could have respected that position.