Bush's lightning visit to boost the morale of troops in Iraq was a great opportunity to fill the Thanksgiving airwaves
with images of a brave Commander In Chief, wasn't it?
How many times do you suppose we will have to see the image of Bush in Iraq sporting the grey Army jacket by the time the 2004 election comes around? I'll wager we'll have seen that image blasted on our FOX, CNN and MSNBC telly-screens for a longer collective period of time than Git-In-Git-Out-Chickenturkey Bush actually spent on that Iraq base.
I'll bet this is not the only great secret Bush has kept from the people and the press, you know?
Think about his stealth-plan..then think about all the other sneaky methods he may have utilized to
keep you in the dark about many important issues that affect you and me.
I do know that, no matter how nice you may think this visit was for the troops (and I think it was), there was a missed
opportunity for anyone who truly considers themself a "leader".
I read this today:
"On the other bank of the Tigris river, in Kazhamiyah's mostly Shiite lower-middle class neighborhood, residents also complained the US-led coalition had failed to bring back security.
But they insisted they were thankful to Bush for ridding them of Saddam Hussein under whose rule they were systematically oppressed. "Of course, I'll always be thankful to Bush for restoring our rights as Shiites but I still think he should have also bothered to meet ordinary Iraqis rather than only caring about the well-being of his troops," said Shuruh, a 30-year-old woman.
"He needs to know how we live, without any security. He needs to understand that freedom without security doesn't mean much to us," she added.
Her mother Amal, wrapped from head to toe in the black abaya, complained Bush had failed to deliver his promise to "bring prosperity and democracy to the country".
"And he will only realise those shortcomings if he mingles with us," she said.
Mohammed, a 42-year-old grocer, said "Bush's visit makes no difference to me as long as stability has not returned to Iraq."
"We owe the Americans big time for what they did for us, but now it's high time they dealt with our security," he said, echoing a feeling shared by Sunnis and Shiites alike as reconstruction efforts are stalling and violence flaring.
"I am flabbergasted that the most powerful nation in the world failed to take into account what would happen here after the war," Mohammed said.
"Could they not factor in the reaction of Saddam's supporters? Bush must now finish off the insurgents and let us elect our own government."
Shiite leaders this week voiced their opposition to a coalition plan for a phased transfer to sovereignty, asking that general elections be held at once.
As Bush flew back to Washington after the lightning visit, officials told journalists that the US president had told the four members of the US-installed interim leadership, who were the sole Iraqis that he met, that he was ready to review the blueprint in the light of the determined opposition from the majority community here."
We have already missed an opportunity to do this thing right (since Bush and our soft and pliant blanket-authority-giving Congress decided to barge headlong into this war).
The very least Bush could have done (long before now) was to establish a presence in Iraq for the people to whom he claims he wants to bring his great democracy.
They don't really care whether he's there or not, but he is CLEARLY NOT THERE for them in policy's name.
Where is their security? Where is their hope?
If Bush thinks he did the right thing in Iraq, he's going to have to do more than sneak around and hit-and-run.
The Iraqi governing council don't think a lot of his chicken-dance.
They aren't stupid. They know it was a PR stunt.
And they know he gave four of their 25 members a hand(shake)job quickie in his frightened haste to git-in-git-out.
It was like putting on some gloss to cover great loss.
I know about gloss...my red lip gloss looks juicy and attractive for about 15 minutes..then it's
back to the reality of the bare lips again.
temporary beauty
Then again, I don't have the cable news networks blasting photos of me with the fresh gloss every 15 minutes.
Man, I'd be popular if they did.
Bush's popularity will be higher this morning. I heard another troop died in Iraq this morning.
Hillary Clinton was far braver and a more honest spokesperson for Americans in Afghanistan than was GW Bush in Iraq this past week.
Newsmax boasts in their usual-partisan way today that "Bush thrills troops, Hillary Doesn't".
In the article, they say:
"The New York Democrat has lately taken to accusing President Bush of not appreciating soldiers' sacrifices, and even covering-up battlefield casualties.
Three weeks ago Sen. Clinton secretly visited wounded soliders at Walter Reed Army Hospital, then told Democrats gathered in Iowa that the troops she met were paying the price for Bush's "failed policy" in Iraq.
Clinton also has a spot airing on MSNBC this weekend where she delivers a Thanksgiving message of appreciation to the troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan."
Do you notice that Newsmax used "secretly" in describing Hillary's visit to Walter Reed Army Hospital?
How many "stealth-trips" has Bush made to Walter Reed Army Hospital?
Please tell me. I may not have heard about all of them.
*I checked and learned Bush has made the trip to WR Hospital a few times..they just don't widely broadcast these visits by any politicians, apparently.*
Do you think that the Iraq troops may have been louder in their surprised cheers because, unlike Hillary's dignified, planned and courageous visit to a hot war-zone on Thanksgiving, Paul Bremer called his secret (probably shaking in his cowboy boots) guest dramatically onstage as if this was a rock concert? If I were to think in a Newsmax-mindset (except liberal), the whole thing would make me think President Bush was a jealous little b*tch who couldn't bear the thought of any Clinton upstaging him.
