DETROIT -- "We're kicking ass." That's what President George W. Bush said to Australian Deputy Prime Minister Mark Vaile when he inquired about Bush's brief stopover and photo-op in Iraq on his way to Sydney for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.
Flippant machismo is nothing new for the "bring 'em on" boy, our cowpoke "commander guy" who once said he would get Osama bin Laden "dead or alive." A new video of bin Laden -- in which the al-Qaeda leader spoke about resisting American forces in Iraq and converting the world to Islam -- provided Bush with another opportunity to justify his military madness.
Bush, who conflates nearly everything he does with the Sept 11 attacks, declared that the new video endorses his failed strategy in Iraq, telling reporters, "I find it interesting that Iraq was mentioned, which is a reminder that Iraq is a part of the war on extremism."
Had bin Laden mentioned "raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens," Bush still would claim the reference as approbation for his imperialistic invasion and occupation of Iraq. It's simple: Whatever bin Laden says justifies whatever Bush does.
While bin Laden smokes his hookah in his hideout in Pakistan, the mass murderer praises Allah for the never-ending gift of Bush, his most reliable recruitment tool and the flypaper for his proselytizing. The endless violence in Iraq gives bin Laden solace and an invaluable symbol to rally more Islamic extremists to commit terrorist acts in the west.
This week, Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker will provide Congress with a predictable spin on the military "progress" the troop surge is bringing to Iraq. The stated purpose of the surge was to give Iraqi politicians breathing space, to bring some degree of stability to the nation and to undertake meaningful steps toward reconciliation among Iraq's divided religious and ethnic groups.
That simply is not happening, and it is pure folly to think otherwise. All the fine tuning and parsing we will hear from the Pentagon and Capitol Hill politicians about the troop surge reducing violence and making the Iraqi people safer is pure bunk.
With the number of U.S. troops in Iraq at 168,000 -- a record high -- the central government is largely ineffective. The nation's infrastructure remains shattered.
Bush made his pit stop in Iraq in Anbar Province at an air base the Marines nicknamed Camp Cupcake. Did Bush speak to Iraqi civilians whose loved ones are dying each day about the progress he claims is being made because of the troop surge? Did he talk to anyone from Baghdad about what it's like to have only six hours of power when the daytime temperatures reach 120 degrees Fahrenheit?
Of course not. He never left the base but did find time to chat with CBS anchor Katie Couric in an air-conditioned tent. They both are trying to salvage sinking careers, and the exchange was Couric hurling one softball question after another.
It's that kind of pseudo-journalism that helps keep many Americans in the dark depths of ignorance and lying politicians in business. Real reporters -- as opposed to celebrities seeking favor from the powerful -- would have challenged the "fuzzy math" Bush and his boys in the Pentagon are using to buttress their bogus claims that sectarian violence is nose-diving.
Couric let Petraeus get away with his unsubstantiated claim that "the number of ethno-sectarian deaths" has been "reduced dramatically." The Pentagon formula for counting and categorizing deaths ranks up there with post-invasion military plans, locked in the same vault with former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld's map showing "exactly" where Iraq's weapons of mass destruction were located.
Sectarian death counts are down if you exclude whole categories of killings. A Pentagon intelligence analyst told the Washington Post that "if a bullet went through the back of the head, it's sectarian. If it went through the front, it's criminal."
The most deadly attack since the war began, killing more than 500 people and wounding more than 375, is not included in Petraeus' sectarian death toll. On Aug. 14, suicide bombings and mortar fire left that carnage in and around Sinjar, a town in northern Iraq near the Syrian border.
The victims were members of the ancient Yazidie sect, a group many Sunnis and al-Qaeda members consider blasphemous. "This is an act of ethnic cleansing, if you will," Maj. Gen. Benjamin Mixon, commander of U.S. forces in northern Iraq, told CNN. The slaughtered Yazidies inexplicably are not included in the Pentagon tally of deaths attributed to sectarian violence. Just fudge the casualty numbers and "signs of progress" are sprouting up everywhere in Iraq.
Like all that matters about this horrible war, lies are the first choice of those who sold it, want it to continue indefinitely and want permanent U.S. military bases in Iraq. That goal -- one Petraeus will not acknowledge when he gives his "progress" report to Congress -- is really why we are in Iraq.
The Democrats should get out of their bunker of gutless acquiescence and do more than just expose the great hoax of the surge. Stop the madness. End the funding for this war and demand a complete withdrawal of U.S. forces.
Most of the Democrats, especially the presidential candidates, don't want to be labeled as abandoning the fight or not supporting the troops. They must confront Bush, spit in his lying eyes and explain to the American people that this war, which was never justified in the first place, will never be resolved militarily. The best hope for Iraq is not the mindless chatter we'll hear this week in Washington about how effective or ineffective the surge is. The most promising development occurred in an undisclosed location in Finland last week.
Sunni and Shiite delegates from Iraq began secret peace talks there with politicians from Northern Ireland and South Africa, experienced in power sharing and national reconciliation, coaching the Iraqis on how they can work together to build peace.
The mainstream American media will provide exhaustive but largely superficial coverage of Petraeus' dog-and-pony show on Capitol Hill and the political dynamics there. We have heard almost nothing about what happened in Finland and how that process should be nurtured as a pathway to peace.
The participants in Finland -- according to an Associated Press report -- included representatives of radial Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, Adnan al-Dulaimi, the leader of the largest Sunni political group, and Humam Hammoudi, the Shiite chairman of the Iraqi parliament's foreign affairs committee.
Martin McGuinness, the Sinn Fein leader and one of the Northern Irish politicians who participated in the four days of talks, said, "The important lesson is that people are serious about bringing about peace in their country. That can only be done through an inclusive negotiation process."
Iraq will never be pacified without negotiations, inclusion and the recognition that military action and continued violence are not the answer. In his radio address last Saturday, Bush said he "will lay out a vision for future involvement in Iraq."
Don't expect anything different. We will remain in Iraq as long as Bush is president. He will leave the mess for his successor and blame the Democrats for the certain failure. Remaining in Iraq, Bush will tell us, will protect us from bin Laden in Pakistan.
The voices of sanity have to overcome the shrill voice of a political punk, a third-rate, impetuous ideologue convinced that he alone can judge right from wrong, good from evil.
Bush wants more Iraqis and Americans to die for his staggering failures. Cloaked in this hollow rhetoric, the hideous American media will amplify his words gladly as they fall into the fold, measuring progress as "kicking ass."
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | Sept. 11 2007 |