©2007, UrbisMedia
Two-hundred and thirty years after our country threw out a mentally-ill king it allowed into power an addled and coddled frat boy to frighten the people and usurp the power and purse of the republic with justification of an endless “war on terror.” But it may be coming to an end.
Members of his own party demurred, soldiers watching on television reportedly laughed at him, the polls refused to budge upward, and in the end (really the end for this guy’s credibility) he didn’t even seem to believe very strongly in his own words. That’s the kiss of death for somebody who is supposed to be a leader. George Bush sounded like a coach for a team behind by thirty points in the last minute of the last quarter, hoping that throwing up a “Hail Mary” would rescue his legacy.
It ain’t gonna happen and, unfortunately, a lot of people are going to die and be maimed because this guy who has never been man enough is still has such callous disregard for the people who are willing to go out and fight his fight that he can’t even admit his mistakes. Yes, he said that clever little phrase that “mistakes were made,” as though they made themselves, and even said that he is ultimately “responsible” (not that he made the mistakes but, almost nobly, he will accept responsibility). He admits no lies and deceptions, and cherry-picking among generals who will say what he wants to hear for their promotions.
George Bush knows what we all know—that he has been a flop for his entire life. We know, too, that he saw his so called “war on terror,” (really his war on Iraq for oil and war profiteers) was going to be his legacy, a legacy that would wipe out all of that failure and ineptitude. But, just like the lies he created about himself he built his war on a foundation of lies, and they came home to haunt him. This one won’t be like his doctored National Guard record.
This was going to be the victory that would make his father’s “Desert Storm” look small and safe in comparison. George’s war was, putatively, “global” and bloody, but it would be bigger than daddy’s war. He had not been (ahem) “defeated” in his presidential campaigns, like daddy, and now he would have a bigger military victory as commander-in-chief. Little George would “finish the job” his daddy couldn’t finish. Even if he had no conception of how to define “victory,” he would just claim it. But the world despised him for his war, his phony “coalition of the willing,” his Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, extraordinary renditions and tortures, and those ungrateful Iraqis wouldn’t stand up, or stood up only to snipe and place bombs that killed American soldiers.
So Little George’s “legacy” plan is in shambles. His war was all but lost, a certainly not winnable the way he wants to win it. He doesn’t want to employ diplomacy (his appointment of Condi Rice shows what he thinks of diplomacy) because that sort of like surrendering to him. The complex religio-politics of Iraq has him spinning like a dervish. Many of the insurgents, also the Al Qaeda who have joined them, are Sunni Muslims. To put down the chaos he would have to go after them. But wait! George’s pals, the Saudis, are Sunnis, and they might even be providing some aid for their religious brethren. The Shiites are also battling the Sunnis; can’t make them an ally—hell, those Iranian are all Shiites! Start fighting them and you’re helping the insurgents, and the Shiites are the majority and are clearly going to dominate Iraq; piss them off and you won’t get any oil concessions. Holy Shiites! This is complicated! This does not put Little George in a Sunni disposition. [1] That what Georgie gets for ignoring the advice of diplomats and scholars who have long known how complicated it is, and then went on to ignore the advice of his generals. So now he “needs” to send over 21,500 (where the hell did you get the 1,500?) to be targets and collateral damage in a civil war you helped detonate.
To do this Little George pulled out the old reliable fear factor. Scare the people into believing you; that’s George’s political schtick. Gee, if America pulls out “there will be chaos” all over the Middle East. This, of course, is code for no oil concessions for your energy pals, no more big contracts for Halliburton and KBR. The Iraqi government would collapse, George threatens. Sure, like it’s a functioning democracy—there’s a civil war going on, George, even if you prefer to see it as an insurgency. Your trump card, the one you have played so successfully, is that if the Congress does not continue to give you the money you ask for to squander on your war, it will be putting our troops at risk by “emboldening the enemy” —you know, the troops that you didn’t provide enough Kevlar vests for, or armor for their Humvees—the ones you have reduced VA benefits for. Those troops. You hold a gun to their head and threaten Congress you’ll shoot if you don’t get your way.
But it isn’t working so well these days for George. He has lost the support many of the troops, many of their officers, many of their families, and he has lost the support of the people, only a quarter of which support his war.
But Little George can’t stop lying to himself. He still lives in his little fantasy world, where there will be an annual public holiday in your name, with maimed soldiers parading down Pennsylvania Avenue singing the praises of their great commander-in-Chief. He actually believes that he can spin his defeat: “Victory will not look like the ones our fathers and grandfathers achieved. There will be no surrender ceremony on the deck of a battleship. But victory in Iraq will bring something new in the Arab world a functioning democracy that polices its territory, upholds the rule of law, respects fundamental human liberties, and answers to its people.” No Little George’s surrender will take place much like the Vietnam surrender did, skulking home, claiming that at least you won the body count, but secretly wishing he had done for himself a nice tidy little, quick, war, the way his father did, or the way Ronny Reagan, “The Conqueror of Grenada,” did.
We can see it in your eyes, George—you are a beaten man. You are not looking for victory—you are looking for a way out —like a guy who threw a sucker punch in a bar fight and is heading for door as quick as he can. Since you have done nothing of a domestic sort but enrich your rich friends with tax breaks you will be remembered for this lost war, George. You will be remembered as the guy who talked “shock and awe” but couldn’t walk the walk. If you were an honorable man you would resign and talk your entire administration with you. Resign. Go hunting with Dick Cheney. Wear a quail costume. It would be the— at last!—honorable thing to do.
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©2007, James A. Clapp (UrbisMedia Ltd. Pub. 2.4.2007)
[1] Alright, I promise I won’t do that again.