Many times in these pages I have opined on the cowardice and stubborn stupidity of George W. Bush. He never seems to disappoint in proving himself to be singularly unsuited by temperament and character to occupy the (stolen) presidency of this country.
Bush must have learned his cowardice from Ronald Reagan. Reagan “apologized” for his lying about his Iran-Contra violation of the Constitution by later admitting that what he said he didn’t know before he apparently knew. Such epistemological trickery is not lost on George Bush, who is willing to admit he was “wrong” about things (those WMD, for one example), but he proceed policy-wise as though it had been true. He has admitted that his war strategies in Iraq have not produced the glorious results he promised, but on he goes, as if “coming clean” is just something you say for the political purposes of the moment, but “hey, we’re in this thing now, so we gotta keep goin’.” Two wrongs just might make things right.
We see another expression this in the way in which the buck always seems to stop just outside the door of the Oval Office. Take the Walter Reed Hospital disgrace. Bush claimed that he just will not stand for such treatment of the troops his administration. What happened to all that Navy stuff about this happening “on his watch.” Heads rolled, generals’ heads, just the way they do in Iraq when the blame really is Mr. Bush’s blame, not that of others. Out of the same mouth will come how much he loves and honors “the troops” and then behind the scenes cuts their VA benefits and shoves them back into Iraq to be IED fodder combat weary, unprepared and ill-equipped.
So let’s take stock of that “Axis of Evil” stuff George used to spout? You know, Iraq, Iran and North Korea, the countries George Bush put in his sights in a speech back in his tough-talking, swaggery, “mission accomplished,” days. [1]
Rather than tremble in fear and roll over for George and his neo-cons, one by one, the axis [2]has reared up and made his life miserable. First, of course there was Iraq, which he was going to “shock and awe” and scare the hell out of the rest of the axis. In a way the axis of evil bastard who is no longer with us, Saddam Hussein, haunts Mr. Bush. Saddam’s Sunni supporters are giving Bush fits. They turned into the “insurgents” and Bush has been successful in bringing them into common cause with Al Qaeda insurgents who have flocked to Iraq for the chance to kill more Americans. Instead of George’s idea that Iraqi democracy, which is pretty much a joke, igniting a firestorm of democratic feeling across the Middle East, he has been instrumental in getting the Sunnis and Shiites to go at one another with relish and practice on American troops in between. His own generals have all but told him the war is un-winnable, but he blames anyone who opposes his war as “emboldening” the enemy and deserting the troops. [3] After five years his mission remains a “unaccomplished” and, heading for a retreat which will be quickly blamed on the Democrat-controlled Congress, he is mainly concerned with his legacy. But it’s George’s failure No. 1.
Desperate for a winner of some sort The Dear Decider recently did a rollover to the pudgy “Dear Leader,” Kim Jong Il. Condi Rice, that most inept of Secretaries of State, tried her best to make it sound like a diplomatic coup, but anyone could see that Kim had been bought for his price. And Kim offered little. He will get loads of fuel for the most vague promise to stop making nukes that he claims he denies making in the first place. So, in his terms, he will stop doing what he wasn’t doing—but there is no time period on the deal. What Bush gets is something that looks to a stupid Red Stater like getting Kim to back down. George talks the talk, but when the politics get too rough he rolls. George refused to have his envoys meet with Kim’s in bilateral talks about the nukes; only a six-sided meeting would do. But behind the scenery in which Mr. Bush was talking tough, bilateral meetings were indeed taking place between Mr. Hill and the North Koreans. And the Koreans got their deal, because this branch if the axis of evil called Bush’s bluff. That’s our Dear Decider; image always trumps reality, spin supercedes veracity.
Even ardent Bushies like John “Got Milk” Bolton and other Reb publicans take issue with the deal, saying Bush rolled over to Kim and gave a lesson Iran’s Ahmadeijad as to how to deal with Georgie on nukes. George’s failure No. 2.
Now Georgie is about to complete his trifecta in rolling over to “Axis of Evil.” Iran. Ahmadinejad is as much of a nut case as Bush and seems quite willing to thumb his nose at his protestations over going nuclear while Bush has badly weakened America’s ability to maintain three fronts against the “axis of evil.” Bush snubbed the Iraq Study Commission, which recommended that he open diplomatic channels to Iran (and Syria). But to swagger-boy that sort of stuff is for wimps. But, that’s just what he has ended up doing, and doing his best to make it sound like he has brought them to the table. He doesn’t sound too tough these days, and there is not much swagger in his step, and there’s an anxious, confused look in those beady eyes. That’s the look of a guy who knows he’s lost.
For good measure, Afghanistan—the one place where the is some strategic and logical reason for us to be militarily—is slipping back into the hands of the Taliban, our chosen leader, Hamid Kharzi, is a virtual prisoner in Kabul, and US and NATO troops can’t seem to stop accidentally killing civilians.
If Congress steps in to cut off authority ort funds Bush maintains he is the decider and that the will of the people and the will of the Congress don’t’ matter. But more and more the people recognize Iraq as his war, as it has been for some time now. Most of the generals that were in at the beginning have left or were removed. Rumsfeld is gone, [4] Powell is gone and brooding over his UN debacle. Only Cheney remains, the evil, sneering behind the scenes specter. It’s Bush’s war and he will be blamed for losing it. He will likely lose Afghanistan as well, and any other countries in the region as well. He will lose them because he is, when the poll workers in Florida and Antonin Scalia can’t help him, a loser.
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©2007, James A. Clapp (UrbisMedia Ltd. Pub. 3.13.2007)
[1] The words were actually written for him by an idiot named David Frum, who has written a delusional book, An End to Evil: How to Win the War on Terror
[2] Unlike that WWII Axis of Germany, Italy and Japan that George’s family used to have business dealings with.
[3] While he cuts their benefits, extends their tours of duty and houses the wounded in filthy accommodations when they return.
[4] Although the word is that he maintains an office in the Pentagon, hanging around like some ghostly incarnate apparition of his own epistemology (Yesterday, upon a stair, I saw a man who wasn’t there . . . “)