Iraqis Want Americans to Go Home: Bush the Bloodthirsty Presses On

[Guest Gandalf Grey]

http://www.niagarafallsreporter.com/gallagher323.html

 

IRAQIS WANT AMERICANS TO GO HOME; BUSH THE BLOODTHIRSTY PRESSING ON

By Bill Gallagher

DETROIT -- President George W. Bush's contempt for the American and Iraqi

people is boundless. He insists on sending more American troops and Iraqi

civilians to their deaths in his futile war waged only to stroke his

megalomania and try to control Iraq's oil reserves.

 

 

 

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki now says flat-out that his army is

capable of handling security in his shattered nation when U.S. troops

withdraw "any time they want."

 

The prime minister welcomed the U.S. forces to leave two days after a news

conference where Bush ranted like an automaton on speed, defending the

indefensible and demanding that he alone should decide what is the proper

course in Iraq, rejecting any role for Congress.

 

Only the great "decider," the "commander guy," the "bring 'em on" boy knows

how to extricate America from the fiasco in Iraq his arrogance, incompetence

and intransigence have created. Be patient and wait, he demands -- a command

only soldiers who have no choice and fools will obey.

 

Now, with the Iraqi leader giving the OK for a U.S. withdrawal and growing

evidence that the surge in U.S. troops is simply repositioning insurgent

violence, the only justification for American military presence in Iraq is

Bush's unspoken agenda, the real reasons for the disastrous invasion and

occupation in the first place.

 

Bush wants the Iraqi parliament to pass an oil revenue-sharing law, clearing

the way for American and British companies to start pumping crude and

grabbing claims to vast, untapped Iraqi oil resources.

 

Bush and the neocon nuts he listens to want permanent American military

bases in Iraq to protect the oil, to become the entrenched regional bully,

strategically positioned to launch attacks on other nations in the

neighborhood, notably Iran and Syria.

 

Bush's incessant claim that we cannot "quit Iraq before the job is done" has

nothing whatsoever to do with the protection and security of the Iraqi

people. It's all about what is under the ground these suffering people walk

on. In a speech before the West Virginia Air National Guard on the Fourth of

July, Bush made a brief but telling mention of the war- for-oil strategy.

But first he had to tell the military volunteers how much he appreciated

their repeated deployments to Iraq.

 

Bush -- whose own Air National Guard record includes an entire year AWOL and

his failure to take a mandatory flight physical and undergo drug testing --

apparently saw no irony in being there to honor those "who in the face of

danger wear the uniform of the United States of America and step forward in

freedom's defense."

 

Bush's Air National Guard service was distinguished by his successful quest

not to wear his uniform, to duck danger and step back from even casual duty.

Real danger is not required for the pampered children of the powerful and

the privileged.

 

Mark my words: No relative of Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of

State Condoleezza Rice, supporters of the war in Congress, College Young

Republicans or right-wing pundits who sold the aggression will die in Iraq.

 

Bush said sacrifice in Iraq is imperative to confront the terrorists,

because if we don't, "they would follow us here." And with a foothold in

Iraq, "they would control a nation with massive oil reserves."

 

That brief lapse of truth was the most honest utterance Bush has made.

American troops and Iraqi civilians must die indefinitely because "we," not

"they," must control "massive oil reserves."

 

The Australians are among the few left in the "coalition" occupying Iraq.

Although they only have 1,500 soldiers there, the largely symbolic

contribution is sure to pay off in oil. At least that's why they are there.

 

The same day Bush spit out the oily truth, Australian Defense Minister

Brendan Nelson offered a candid explanation for continuing the bloodshed.

Nelson told the Australian Broadcasting Company, "Energy security is

extremely important to all nations throughout the world, and of course, in

protecting and securing Australia's interests."

 

And from deep down under, Nelson blurted out the only real reason for this

horrible war: "Obviously the Middle East itself, not only Iraq, but the

entire region is an important supplier of energy, oil in particular, to the

rest of the world. Australians and all of us need to think what would happen

if there were a premature withdrawal from Iraq."

 

At least the Aussies are acknowledging the self-evident truth. Bush is

incapable of admitting why we are waging what he himself now calls "an ugly

war." He is desperately trying to replay the old al-Qaeda tune, and many in

the echo chamber of the mainstream media dutifully plug the recording.

 

At last week's news conference, Bush mentioned al-Qaeda in Iraq 30 times. In

a shameless lie, absurd rewriting of history and deliberate distortion of

the timeline of the carnage in Iraq, Bush boldly claimed, "The same folks

that are bombing innocent people in Iraq were the ones who attacked us in

America on Sept. 11, and that's why what happens in Iraq matters to the

security here at home."

 

Leave it to the intrepid Helen Thomas, the gutsiest member of the White

House press corps, to prick Bush's bubble of deceit. "Mr. President, you

started this war, this war of your choosing, and you can end it alone today,

at this point," she said with righteous indignation for Bush's transparent

lie.

 

Then Thomas threw a bucket of cold truth on a man who bathes in lies, with

the crunch question: "Don't you accept, don't you understand we brought

al-Qaeda to Iraq?"

 

The smirking, befuddled Bush reached for the only arrow in his quiver -- a

lie. He blamed Saddam Hussein. Saddam "chose the course," Bush claimed, and

the United States was compelled to invade Iraq because Saddam was ignoring

United Nations Security Council resolutions.

 

Bush's writers twisted the U.N. position into an oft-repeated, cutesy phrase

he brought out of retirement to try to fend off Thomas. Saddam had been

warned, Bush reminded us, to "disclose, disarm or face serious consequences"

Saddam had nothing to disclose or disarm. Bush was simply hell-bent to use

the "serious consequences" part of his pat line. In his delusional world,

Bush now wants us to believe Saddam is responsible for al-Qaeda in Iraq.

 

Even U.S. military intelligence pegs al-Qaeda as representing at most 15

percent of the forces carrying out violent assaults in Iraq. Overwhelmingly,

Sunni insurgents and Shiite militias, not al-Qaeda, foster the still largely

sectarian, indigenous violence.

 

Yes, al-Qaeda is dangerous in Iraq, but Bush is inflating its role there and

again conflating his war of choice with Sept. 11. The New York Times came up

with a couple of crisp declarative sentences capturing the essence of Bush's

distortion: "Al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia did not exist before the Sept. 11

attacks. The Sunni group thrived as a magnet for recruiting and a force for

violence largely because of the American invasion of Iraq in 2003, which

brought an American occupying force of more than 100,000 troops to the heart

of the Middle East and led to a Shiite-dominated government in Baghdad."

 

This week, the Senate will take up another measure aimed at changing the

U.S. role in Iraq. Sen. John W. Warner, R-Va., and Sen. Richard Lugar,

R-Ind., are looking for bipartisan support for a proposal to require the

president to develop a plan by October that would significantly narrow the

U.S. mission in Iraq.

 

Other bipartisan plans call for putting into law the recommendations of the

Iraq Study Group, a report Bush has thoroughly rejected. In fact, in many

key areas he has done just the opposite of the strategy outlined by the

panel.

 

Even with pressure from Congress, Bush will do as he pleases.

 

He will not hesitate to defy the law, if lawmakers ever do pass a veto-proof

bill with a timetable for withdrawal. Bush is a war president, anointed by

God to transform the Middle East and protect oil.

 

The American and Iraqi people want U.S. troops out of Iraq. Bush doesn't

give a damn. It's his war and his oil.

 

 

--

NOTICE: This post contains copyrighted material the use of which has not

always been authorized by the copyright owner. I am making such material

available to advance understanding of

political, human rights, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues. I

believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of such copyrighted material as

provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright

Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107

 

"A little patience and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their

spells dissolve, and the people recovering their true sight, restore their

government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are

suffering deeply in spirit,

and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public

debt. But if the game runs sometimes against us at home we must have

patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an opportunity of winning

back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are at

stake."

-Thomas Jefferson

[Guest z]

Gandalf Grey wrote:

> http://www.niagarafallsreporter.com/gallagher323.html

>

> IRAQIS WANT AMERICANS TO GO HOME; BUSH THE BLOODTHIRSTY PRESSING ON

> By Bill Gallagher

> DETROIT -- President George W. Bush's contempt for the American and Iraqi

> people is boundless. He insists on sending more American troops and Iraqi

> civilians to their deaths in his futile war waged only to stroke his

> megalomania and try to control Iraq's oil reserves.

>

>

>

> Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki now says flat-out that his army is

> capable of handling security in his shattered nation when U.S. troops

> withdraw "any time they want."

>

> The prime minister welcomed the U.S. forces to leave two days after a news

> conference where Bush ranted like an automaton on speed, defending the

> indefensible and demanding that he alone should decide what is the proper

> course in Iraq, rejecting any role for Congress.

>

> Only the great "decider," the "commander guy," the "bring 'em on" boy knows

> how to extricate America from the fiasco in Iraq his arrogance, incompetence

> and intransigence have created. Be patient and wait, he demands -- a command

> only soldiers who have no choice and fools will obey.

>

> Now, with the Iraqi leader giving the OK for a U.S. withdrawal and growing

> evidence that the surge in U.S. troops is simply repositioning insurgent

> violence, the only justification for American military presence in Iraq is

> Bush's unspoken agenda, the real reasons for the disastrous invasion and

> occupation in the first place.

>

> Bush wants the Iraqi parliament to pass an oil revenue-sharing law, clearing

> the way for American and British companies to start pumping crude and

> grabbing claims to vast, untapped Iraqi oil resources.

>

> Bush and the neocon nuts he listens to want permanent American military

> bases in Iraq to protect the oil, to become the entrenched regional bully,

> strategically positioned to launch attacks on other nations in the

> neighborhood, notably Iran and Syria.

>

> Bush's incessant claim that we cannot "quit Iraq before the job is done" has

> nothing whatsoever to do with the protection and security of the Iraqi

> people. It's all about what is under the ground these suffering people walk

> on. In a speech before the West Virginia Air National Guard on the Fourth of

> July, Bush made a brief but telling mention of the war- for-oil strategy.

> But first he had to tell the military volunteers how much he appreciated

> their repeated deployments to Iraq.

>

> Bush -- whose own Air National Guard record includes an entire year AWOL and

> his failure to take a mandatory flight physical and undergo drug testing --

> apparently saw no irony in being there to honor those "who in the face of

> danger wear the uniform of the United States of America and step forward in

> freedom's defense."

>

> Bush's Air National Guard service was distinguished by his successful quest

> not to wear his uniform, to duck danger and step back from even casual duty.

> Real danger is not required for the pampered children of the powerful and

> the privileged.

>

> Mark my words: No relative of Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of

> State Condoleezza Rice, supporters of the war in Congress, College Young

> Republicans or right-wing pundits who sold the aggression will die in Iraq.

>

> Bush said sacrifice in Iraq is imperative to confront the terrorists,

> because if we don't, "they would follow us here." And with a foothold in

> Iraq, "they would control a nation with massive oil reserves."

>

> That brief lapse of truth was the most honest utterance Bush has made.

> American troops and Iraqi civilians must die indefinitely because "we," not

> "they," must control "massive oil reserves."

>

> The Australians are among the few left in the "coalition" occupying Iraq.

> Although they only have 1,500 soldiers there, the largely symbolic

> contribution is sure to pay off in oil. At least that's why they are there.

>

> The same day Bush spit out the oily truth, Australian Defense Minister

> Brendan Nelson offered a candid explanation for continuing the bloodshed.

> Nelson told the Australian Broadcasting Company, "Energy security is

> extremely important to all nations throughout the world, and of course, in

> protecting and securing Australia's interests."

>

> And from deep down under, Nelson blurted out the only real reason for this

> horrible war: "Obviously the Middle East itself, not only Iraq, but the

> entire region is an important supplier of energy, oil in particular, to the

> rest of the world. Australians and all of us need to think what would happen

> if there were a premature withdrawal from Iraq."

>

> At least the Aussies are acknowledging the self-evident truth. Bush is

> incapable of admitting why we are waging what he himself now calls "an ugly

> war." He is desperately trying to replay the old al-Qaeda tune, and many in

> the echo chamber of the mainstream media dutifully plug the recording.

>

> At last week's news conference, Bush mentioned al-Qaeda in Iraq 30 times. In

> a shameless lie, absurd rewriting of history and deliberate distortion of

> the timeline of the carnage in Iraq, Bush boldly claimed, "The same folks

> that are bombing innocent people in Iraq were the ones who attacked us in

> America on Sept. 11, and that's why what happens in Iraq matters to the

> security here at home."

>

> Leave it to the intrepid Helen Thomas, the gutsiest member of the White

> House press corps, to prick Bush's bubble of deceit. "Mr. President, you

> started this war, this war of your choosing, and you can end it alone today,

> at this point," she said with righteous indignation for Bush's transparent

> lie.

>

> Then Thomas threw a bucket of cold truth on a man who bathes in lies, with

> the crunch question: "Don't you accept, don't you understand we brought

> al-Qaeda to Iraq?"

>

> The smirking, befuddled Bush reached for the only arrow in his quiver -- a

> lie. He blamed Saddam Hussein. Saddam "chose the course," Bush claimed, and

> the United States was compelled to invade Iraq because Saddam was ignoring

> United Nations Security Council resolutions.

>

> Bush's writers twisted the U.N. position into an oft-repeated, cutesy phrase

> he brought out of retirement to try to fend off Thomas. Saddam had been

> warned, Bush reminded us, to "disclose, disarm or face serious consequences"

> Saddam had nothing to disclose or disarm. Bush was simply hell-bent to use

> the "serious consequences" part of his pat line. In his delusional world,

> Bush now wants us to believe Saddam is responsible for al-Qaeda in Iraq.

>

> Even U.S. military intelligence pegs al-Qaeda as representing at most 15

> percent of the forces carrying out violent assaults in Iraq. Overwhelmingly,

> Sunni insurgents and Shiite militias, not al-Qaeda, foster the still largely

> sectarian, indigenous violence.

>

> Yes, al-Qaeda is dangerous in Iraq, but Bush is inflating its role there and

> again conflating his war of choice with Sept. 11. The New York Times came up

> with a couple of crisp declarative sentences capturing the essence of Bush's

> distortion: "Al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia did not exist before the Sept. 11

> attacks. The Sunni group thrived as a magnet for recruiting and a force for

> violence largely because of the American invasion of Iraq in 2003, which

> brought an American occupying force of more than 100,000 troops to the heart

> of the Middle East and led to a Shiite-dominated government in Baghdad."

>

> This week, the Senate will take up another measure aimed at changing the

> U.S. role in Iraq. Sen. John W. Warner, R-Va., and Sen. Richard Lugar,

> R-Ind., are looking for bipartisan support for a proposal to require the

> president to develop a plan by October that would significantly narrow the

> U.S. mission in Iraq.

>

> Other bipartisan plans call for putting into law the recommendations of the

> Iraq Study Group, a report Bush has thoroughly rejected. In fact, in many

> key areas he has done just the opposite of the strategy outlined by the

> panel.

>

> Even with pressure from Congress, Bush will do as he pleases.

>

> He will not hesitate to defy the law, if lawmakers ever do pass a veto-proof

> bill with a timetable for withdrawal. Bush is a war president, anointed by

> God to transform the Middle East and protect oil.

>

> The American and Iraqi people want U.S. troops out of Iraq. Bush doesn't

> give a damn. It's his war and his oil.

>

>

> --

> NOTICE: This post contains copyrighted material the use of which has not

> always been authorized by the copyright owner. I am making such material

> available to advance understanding of

> political, human rights, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues. I

> believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of such copyrighted material as

> provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright

> Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107

>

> "A little patience and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their

> spells dissolve, and the people recovering their true sight, restore their

> government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are

> suffering deeply in spirit,

> and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public

> debt. But if the game runs sometimes against us at home we must have

> patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an opportunity of winning

> back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are at

> stake."

> -Thomas Jefferson

 

Something is majorly screwed up when the Iraqi Congress is on vacation

because it's 130 degrees in Baghdad, but the American soldiers who are

there to protect them until they can get their country together are

getting their tours of duty lengthened.