Reality Break
Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld...Stuff 'em all in a barrel and roll it down a hill, there'll always be a son-of-a-bitch on top. But I digress.
Earlier this week, the Admninstration rolled out its new fall line of bullshit to try and convince voters that Republicans are the only ones fit to govern. It was difficult to decide which speech was more delusional and divorced from reality though.
Rummy was first at bat, claiming that any who oppose the Administration's policy or, more appropriately...lack thereof...in Iraq were morally and intellectually confused. The implication being that the Bush administration can do no wrong in Iraq or in the effort to contain and cotrol terrorism. Such hubris is a sign of a profound isolation from the reality onm the ground in Iraq and utter denial of the misjudgements, missteps, prevarication and arrogance that led to the invasion of Iraq to begin with.
Darth Cheney was next in the hole, and he did little better. Those 50 million people we supposedly liberated are facing a resurgence of the Taliban and Sharia law in Afghanistan. And Iraqi citizens now have Shi'ite theocrats, with ties to Iran heading up their government. Cheney's claims that Iraq is "...The central front in this war (on terrorism)..." is specious at best. He conveniently left out the fact that the terrorists weren't operating in Iraq until we deposed Saddam, disbanded the Iraqi army and failed to send in enough troops to secure Iraq and its borders.
Last up was Chimpy McPresident, George W. Bush, himself. His "...Bold new agenda..." to undercut terrorism by "...Supporting the forces of freedom in the Middle East..." has hit a little snag called R-E-A-L-I-T-Y. The reality of the matter is that the invasion of Iraq has destabilised the Middle East. We did Iran a HUGE favor by removing the thorn of Saddam from their side. With our troops tied down in the internecine struggle between Shi'a and Sunni in Iraq, Iran has a free hand to exercise its foreign policy strategies. Hezbollah felt emboldened and drew Israel into a short, vicious war which resulted in large numbers of Lebanese civilian casualties. Far from being cowed or defeated, Hezbollah and its leadership are the rock-stars of the region, with America and Israel coming out with black-eyes and further eroded, if that's possible, credibility in the region. And Chimpy had the gall to say that, "Victory in Iraq...Will require more sacrifice.", begging the question of just who will make that sacrifice. Certainly not GOP contributors or those benefitting from his tax cuts.
All three went out of their way to equate the rise of Islamic fundamentalist inspired terrorism with the rise of Hitler and the Nazis in Weimar Germany. Unfortunately, however, it is Chimpy and Co., the Bush administration, which has adopted tactics striaght from Herman Goering's playbook. They are attempting to marginalize and and isolate those who oppose their policies...They brand any who oppose them as unpatriotic and cowardly...They attempt to instill fear of attack into the American populace in order to justify both the war in Iraq and the undermining of the Constitution at home.
None of these men has truly been confronted with the consequnces of their policies. None have seen the killing fields in Iraq first-hand. To my knowledge, none of them have been to a field hospital in the aftermath of an IED attack. Chimpy has paid but the briefest of visits to Walter Reed Army Hospital to see the men and women sacrificed on the altar of his dirty little war. They continue to spout their mindless optimistic slogans about how well the war in Iraq is going.
The sad truth is that the more isolated from the carnage they cause a country's leadership is, the more unfounded optimism replaces reality. And this reality is almost non-existent at the very highest levels of decision making. This break from reality can be seen in the speeches offered up this week by Chimpy and Co. Thus they, and their supporters/apologist/synchophants pose a greater threat to the Republic than any terrorists could ever dream of.
