Bush Urges Patience As U.S. Toll Grows
Bush urged Iraqis to defy terrorists and vote in Sunday's election, and sought patience from anxious Americans as a Marine helicopter crash Wednesday pushed the U.S. death toll above 1,400.
He lashed out at critics who say Iraq has become too costly and deadly, suggesting that such second-guessing could hurt the U.S. mission.
Undeterred, Bush said he is leading the nation toward an honorable goal — in Iraq and across the world. "I firmly planted the flag of liberty," he said.
To the Iraqis who face daily attacks from insurgents, he said: "Clearly, there are some who are intimidated. I urge people to vote. I urge people to defy these terrorists."
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&e=4&u=/ap/20050126/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bushOur soldiers are hapless pawns in this maniac's sorry attempt cast himself as a warrior-in-chief, and the Iraqis are reeling from his canard of 'freedom' as they are led by the nose into a replicate of American 'democracy' that asks them to ratify the U.S. puppet Allawi in return for an indefinite occupation by our conscripted forces.
Bush's arrogance is typical of someone who has never had to personally sacrifice anything, anytime in his privileged life. He abandoned his own obligation to the Guard, while his peers fought and died in Vietnam, to enmesh himself in a political campaign for one of his father Prescott's cronies. It should be no surprise that he is so willing to sacrifice the lives of others to further his political ambitions now as president.
We can only hope that thinking, feeling, sacrificing Americans will see through his adolescent, validation ploy and challenge him to abandon his reckless pursuit of middle east dominance in the guise of 'freedom' and 'liberty'.
There is one expanding horror in American life. It is that our long odyssey toward liberty, democracy and freedom-for-all may be achieved in such a way that utopia remains forever closed, and we live in freedom and hell, debased of style, not individual from one another, void of courage, our fear rationalized away. -Norman Mailer