Driving The Hearse Blindfolded

[malaise]

<snip>
In case you missed it the other night, George Bush took no responsibility for plunging the U.S. and Iraq into a catastrophic war from which there seems to be no exit. To some observers, he appeared to shoulder the onus, but he didn’t.

Early in the speech, Bush praised American troops for bravery and following orders, and then added, “Where mistakes have been made, the responsibility rests with me.” He didn’t say that he made any mistakes, only that someone had…maybe. In other words, he is taking the blame for the unspecified mistakes of others, presumably one of the people he recently fired or demoted, if they happened at all.

But that was merely one sentence. What followed was a litany of accusations against Iraqis and their neighbors—pretty much all of them, excepting the innocent, many of whom are already too dead to hear themselves exonerated by the American president. He blames Sunni insurgents, Shiite militias, al-Qaida, Iran, Syria, various foreigners and unidentified murderers. By implication, he blames the Iraqi police and army, since he again has to bail them out with a fresh infusion of American troops.

At no time does he accept, or even recognize, that the reason Americans and Iraqis are dying in Iraq is because he ordered an invasion. And since the reasons for the invasion have been proven to be, without any doubt whatsoever, spurious, he has a lot more to atone for than tactical mistakes.

Instead, he blathered on about freedom and the white man’s burden, currently being fulfilled by our armed forces, “as they work to raise up just and hopeful societies across the Middle East.” It seems like just yesterday that were doing the same for American Indians, and in much the same fashion—minus the technology.
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Damn this is good.

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2007/01/12/driving_the_hearse_blindfolded.php

[porphyrian]

1. I'll kick that. - n/t

[malaise]

2. So will I

It's a great read.