Who Taught Him Punctuation?

Our Commander in Chief doesn't get it - or he is an exceptionally adept liar. The invasion / occupation of Iraq has become a nightmare for Iraqi citizens (nearly 5000 dead between June and August of this year) and for the confused and dispirited US troops who no longer believe that Iraq is a legitimate and necessary front on the war on global terrorism. As Joe reported in his recent post, the outlook on the war on terrorism has been made grimmer due to the illegal and mishandled war in Iraq.

"The classified National Intelligence Estimate attributes a more direct role to the Iraq war in fueling radicalism than that presented either in recent White House documents or in a report released Wednesday by the House Intelligence Committee, according to several officials in Washington involved in preparing the assessment or who have read the final document."

But rather than take the assessment of experts seriously and recalibrate its misguided and dishonest policy, the Bush administration and its right wing henchmen are doing what they do best. They are hitting back by discrediting the Intelligence report and claiming that terrorism's spread has nothing to do with the Iraq war. (link: Sujatha)

"The White House on Sunday sharply disagreed with a new U.S. intelligence assessment that the war in Iraq is encouraging global terrorism, as Bush administration officials stressed that anti-American fervor in the Muslim world began long before the Sept. 11 attacks.

Peter Watkins, a White House spokesman, declined to talk specifically about the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE), a classified analysis that represents a consensus perspective of all 16 U.S. intelligence agencies. ....  In it, the agencies concluded that the war has only worsened the U.S. effort to defeat global terrorism. They said that the war is spreading radicalism from Iraq throughout the Middle East and that the longer it continues, the more likely it is that it will provide fresh training grounds for future terrorist plots.

But the White House view, according to Watkins, is that much of the radical fundamentalists' deep anger at the United States and Israel goes back generations and cannot be linked to the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq.

"Their hatred for freedom and liberty did not develop overnight,'' Watkins said. "Those seeds were planted decades ago.''

A predictable reaction from the same bunch whose dishonest claim it was that Saddam had WMD, including the nuclear kind and a direct hand in 9/11. That this dangerously arrogant  administration would lie tirelessly to cover up its incompetence and indecency is not news. But what effect this obstinate denial of truth will have on our national security planning ought to make us very afraid.  See the cavalier attitude George Bush displays towards the murderous choice he made.

"In the CNN interview (recorded earlier this week and aired today), Wolf Blitzer asked about the continuing setbacks in Iraq. Bush, with a slight smile, replied, "Yes, you see -- you see it on TV, and that’s the power of an enemy that is willing to kill innocent people. But there’s also an unbelievable will and resiliency by the Iraqi people -- 12 milion people voted last December. ... I like to tell people when the final history is written on Iraq, it will look like just a comma because there is -- my point is, there’s a strong will for democracy. ... The unity government is functioning."

A comma? Just a comma? Was he joking?  How will Bush's presidency figure in history? As a giant exclamation mark, probably. Future generations will surely wonder how far out of their minds Americans were to have elected such a mindless brute for president - twice!  And it is not just Iraqis and Americans who have been the victims of his sadistic adventure.

Comments

[Sujatha]

He's more like a horrendous ink blot on the pages of US history.
Another interesting suggestion comes from this blog.

[Ruchira Paul]

I never heard that godly reference to punctuation before. And sure enough, the silent whistle sounded and the trained attack dogs are out in force.

[robert allen]

He's a mindless brute alright; but the fact is we didn't elect him either time: the SOB stole those elections.

[Karole]

Your allegation that Bush ever suggested Iraq had a "direct hand" in September 11 is wrong; see http://www.atlanticblog.com/archives/002211.html#002211
It'd be better if you debated the merits of the decision in 2003 to remove Saddam, and why you think the U.S. and the world would be safer today if your alternative - leaving him in power - had been followed.