The President's Iraq Speech
A desperate, dishonest attempt to justify the continuation of our unnecessary, unwarranted invasion and occupation of Iraq. It was painful to listen to even the few snippets of President Bush's speech I tolerated while awaiting the commentary and Democratic responses. It was like watching an exceptionally gory horror film. You cover your eyes, but sneak peeks out of morbid curiosity. The President now conflates the entire war in Iraq with Al Qaeda and fears of another 9/11 because playing the terror card is his last refuge. These are huge lies, of course. Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with Bin Laden and the 9/11 attacks. Al Qaeda in Iraq represent, at most, 5% of the total number of fighters attacking us in Iraq. I was quite pleased with Sen. Jack Reed's official Democratic response and by that of John Edwards, the first time he's ever really impressed me with anything he's said. The responses from Giuliani, McCain and Mike Huckabee were merely partisan echoes of Bush. Sadly, no amount of analysis or rhetoric, however incisive, will change anything at this point. Congressional Democrats won't even attempt to defund Bush's war, so it continues.
I won't perform a line by line analysis of the speech. Fred Kaplan offers an excellent one at Slate. Nevertheless, Bush's speech was so replete with targets of opportunity that I'll comment on a few portions.
Yet Iraq's national leaders are getting some things done. They're sharing oil revenues with the provinces.A blatant lie. The Iraqi parliament has yet to pass revenue sharing legislation. Sigh.
A free Iraq will deny al Qaeda a safe haven. A free Iraq will counter the destructive ambitions of Iran.Because you, President Bush, dropped the ball in Afghanistan and Bin Laden escaped while you pursued the invasion in Iraq, Bin Laden and Al Qaeda already enjoy a safe haven in Pakistan under the protection of a resurgent Taliban. Your invasion of Iraq and the subsequent chaos it brought to that country enabled Al Qaeda, who were never a presence in Iraq before, to set up shop there, and our occupation of Iraq validates their anti-American ideology and provides them with their best recruiting tool.
If we were to be driven out of Iraq, extremists of all strains would be emboldened. Al Qaeda could gain new recruits and new sanctuaries. Iran would benefit from the chaos and would be encouraged in its efforts to gain nuclear weapons and dominate the region.
Iraq under Saddam Hussein was the countervailing force to Iran. The Iraqi Shiite majority, with Iranian support, will now probably crush the Sunni minority, leaving Iraq a twin of sorts to Iran. The idea of a free Iraq that opposes Iranian ambitions is as much a delusional fantasy as the rest of your assessments and predictions, Mr. President.
posted by Peter L. Winkler | 12:17 PM
4 Comments:
I can send more if you like.
"If Saddam rejects peace and we have to use force, our purpose is clear. We want to seriously diminish the threat posed by Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program."
- President Bill Clinton, Feb. 17, 1998
"In the four years since the inspectors left, intelligence reports show that Saddam Hussein has worked to rebuild his chemical and biological weapons stock, his missile delivery capability, and his nuclear program. He has also given aid, comfort, and sanctuary to terrorists, including al Qaeda members ... It is clear, however, that if left unchecked, Saddam Hussein will continue to increase his capacity to wage biological and chemical warfare, and will keep trying to develop nuclear weapons."
- Sen. Hillary Clinton (D, NY), Oct 10, 2002
What Bill and Hillary Clinton said only shows they too were wrong on Iraq, not that Bush has ever been right. Your stock response - but Bill Clinton did it too - is irrelevant. George Bush has been president since January 2001 and the Iraq invasion and occupation are his responsibility. Deal with that or don't bother to come back here anymore. I won't waste my time with sandbox debating tactics.
77 Senators including Clinton, Kerry and Edwards voted for the war. You need the purse strings of the Congress.
Section 8 - Powers of Congress - -
To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;
Clinton, Edwards and Kerry were all wrong in supporting that Congressional Resolution that gave Bush the authorization to attack Iraq. You keep commenting as if I've defended the actions of Democratic legislators who voted to support this war when I never had, because you keep trying to change the issue.
George W. Bush initiated the invasion and occupation of Iraq. It was premised on deception and continues to be perpetuated to no good end with more deception.
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