Tired of the Bushit

[sicprobo]

Oak Ridge Boy and His War

 

Bush keeps defending the indefensible: His reckless, illegal war against

Iraq.

 

 

In his speech at Oak Ridge, he repeated one of his favorite lines: "I

had a choice to make: Either take the word of a madman, or defend

America."

 

 

But that was not the choice he had to make.

 

 

Though Saddam was still playing games with the U.N. weapons inspectors,

they were allowed to go anywhere and everywhere in Iraq. This was the

most intrusive inspection effort of all time, and Bush refused to let it

proceed and refused to believe what the weapons inspectors were telling

him.

 

 

On top of that, the United States, Germany, and Russia were able to fly

spy planes over every square inch of Iraqi territory.

 

 

So, no, Bush didn't have to take the word of a madman.

 

 

He could have taken the word of the U.N. weapons inspectors, but he

chose not to.

 

 

He could have taken the evidence from the spy planes, but he chose not

to.

 

 

Instead, he chose to plunge into war for ulterior motives. Some were

petty (to get back at Saddam for allegedly trying to kill his daddy, or

to clear up the blemish on daddy's record for not "finishing the job"

and going to Baghdad). Some were about oil: controlling it, and letting

U.S. companies get their hands on it. Some were about geopolitics:

hedging a bet against an unstable Saudi Arabia, and eliminating a foe of

Israel.

 

 

But Bush never has spoken honestly about these motives, and his speech

at Oak Ridge was no exception.

 

 

He did, however, repeat the claim that "the American people are safer"

because of the Iraq War.

 

 

That's a hard argument to win.

 

 

Former head of counterterrorism Richard Clarke says the Iraq War has

made us much less safe. So, too, has Retired General Anthony Zinni, who

used to be the Pentagon's commander for that region of the world.

 

 

The International Institute for Strategic Studies, based in London, says

that the Iraq War has made the world less safe and has served as a

"potent global recruitment pretext" for Al Qaeda, whose ranks have grown

to 18,000 as a consequence.

 

 

U.S. alliances are tattered, and the U.S. reputation in the world is at

historic lows.

 

 

How does that make us any safer?

 

 

Bush can boast all he wants, but his Iraq War is a disaster no matter

how you slice it.

 

-- Matthew Rothschild

From The Progressive