Bush: Peace in Iraq will cost $87 billion: Predicts long battle against global terror
A 15-minute speech does not make up for 15 months of misleading the American people on why we should go to war in Iraq or 15 weeks of mismanaging the reconstruction effort since we have been there.
- Howard Dean
$87 BILLION? WTF? This from the President who previously had no interest in nation-building (judging by what he's doing to his own country, he STILL has no interest)?
I am all for helping to get Iraq back on it's feet again, but I also believe that charity MUST start at home. Yes, there is a huge need to deal with infrastructure issues in Iraq, but as Shrub is President of the UNITED STATES, wouldn't it be nice to see him make that sort of commitment at home? We also have significant infrastructure issues (the northeastern power grid, f'rinstance). While Shrub is planning a significant commitment to rebuilding Iraq, that same commitment is lacking on the home front.
On top of everything else, I can't keep track of the ever-chaning justifications for the war.
In mood and content, the speech was in stark contrast to Bush's last public address on Iraq, when he made a dramatic landing on the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln on May 1 and stood beneath a banner saying "Mission Accomplished." Bush then declared: "Major combat operations in Iraq have ended."
Sunday's speech made no short-term forecasts of victory and outlined no precise exit strategy from Iraq. And Bush made scant mention of the original justification for war in Iraq -- the elimination of Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction. Those weapons have so far eluded search teams.
Instead, the president predicted a long, expensive battle in Iraq against terrorists making a "desperate stand" against U.S. forces. "There is more at work in these attacks than blind rage," he said. "The terrorists have a strategic goal -- they want us to leave Iraq. ... They want to shake the will of the civilized world."
I'm growing dizzy from the changes in spin. It's terror! No, it's freedom! No, it's weapons of mass destruction! No, it's terror again! No, it's a dessert topping AND a floor wax, silly....
The problem from where I sit is that the Shrub Administration finds itself saddled with a problem that it has idea how to extricate itself from. By failing to plan for the peace (which, generally, is what comes immediately after the bullets stop flying), the Shrubbies find themselves reacting to events rather than dictating them.
Now Shrub is in a position where he must deal with the reality of having to lose face and ask the UN for assistance. Nation-building is one of the things the UN does well. They have they experience and the wherewithal to take on a mission of that nature. That's simply not something you can expect of an American infantry division.
Shrub is a fine president as long as his handlers are able to control appearances and symbolism. Iraq is demonstrating that this President's "leadership" is nothing but smoke and mirrors, full of sound and fury, and, yes, signifying nothing. Cheaters never prosper, eh?
