Here’s something that President Bush said yesterday, in the middle of an exchange
with Helen
Thomas.
I also saw a threat in Iraq. I was hoping to solve this problem diplomatically.
That’s why I went to the Security Council. That’s why it was important to
pass 1441, which was unanimously passed. And the world said, Disarm, disclose
or face serious consequences. And therefore, we worked with the world. We
worked to make sure that Saddam Hussein heard the message of the world. And
when he chose to deny the inspectors, when he chose not to disclose, then
I had the difficult decision to make to remove him. And we did. And the world
is safer for it.
Just take a long, deep breath and try to take that in. Can you feel it washing
over your skin, seeping into your pores and polluting your blood stream? I know
you can. An interesting mental exercise might be to dig deep and try to find
a single truth in that statement. You may have to get very meta, and simply
accept that there are words there. Words are lovely things. Were they spoken
in some wildly different order, by a different human being altogether, these
words might produce a truthful statement.
When, for instance, in the lead up to Operation Clusterfuck, did Iraq "deny
the inspectors?" Was it some sort of a weird new age meditation, where
they placed bags over their heads, crystals around their necks, hummed sweetly
and pretended the inspecters weren’t there? I thought the United States was
the country that forced the U.N. inspectors to leave Iraq prior to finishing
the job. I thought that was on us. Perhaps, I’m a loon?
Then, I wonder how the world is safer. Somehow, a civil war in one of the most
volatile regions on earth, with a large portion of the United States military
sitting in the way, doesn’t strike me as all that safe a world. Perhaps it’s
just safer for crap. Yes, I think that’s it. The world is safer for crap. Bold-faced
presidential bullshit with regards to the biggest foreign policy fuckup in a
generation, is accepted as par for the course. Nary an eyelash is batted and
hell, it’s even applauded in some circles. Three years into abject failure,
and there’s still no end to the bullshit in sight. Indeed, the Washington Post
Editorial Board proclaimed
this morning that Mr. Bush "sounded authentic" yesterday. Ah, the
sweet sound of authenticity. The world is safe for lies. (via Susie)
I think this little guy sums up how I feel quite nicely.
