September 18, 2004
Fantasy World Of Spin
President Bush has been painting a rosy picture of life in Iraq after the invasion (which Kofi Annan just reluctantly admitted was illegal), assuring Americans that “there’s [sic] ongoing acts of violence,” but, “Iraq has got a strong Prime Minister and national council, and national elections are scheduled in January. The world is changing. Freedom is on the march.”
Bush completely ignores, of course, the difficulty of passing out ballots in Fallujah, Najaf, and other hot spots while dodging bullets, mortar rounds, kidnappers, and air strikes. UN officials doubt the country will be stable enough to hold meaningful elections. Bush's half-full attitude also ignores the glacial pace of reconstruction which has turned many Iraqis against the US occupation.
Christian Parenti wrote an article, "Fables of the Reconstruction", in the last issue of The Nation where he describes how, over a year later, Bechtel still doesn't have Baghdad's waste treatment plants online, allowing 780,000 cubic feet of human and industrial waste to flow directly into the Diyala and Tigris Rivers every day. Parenti also reports that Bechtel is ignoring its contract to maintain the city's drinking water treatment plants.
Parenti's conclusion is that Bechtel's greed and corruption are to blame for the hardship and waterborne disease (it is The Nation, after all), but it seems likely that a lot of work just cannot get done because the security situation in Iraq is so bad. In fact, the Bush administration just requested that $3.4 billion US tax dollars slated for reconstruction be diverted to private security firms operating in Iraq.
President Bush's request puts a spotlight on both Republicans and Democrats in Congress who are wondering why only $1 billion of the $18 billion allocated to public works in Iraq last year has been spent. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska remarked that despite Bush's public claims to the contrary, the shifting of funds "does not add up, in my opinion, to a pretty picture, to a picture that shows that we're winning. But it does add up to this, an acknowledgment that we are in deep trouble."
President Bush's happy vista is also in direct contradiction of his July National Security Estimate that says the BEST possible outcome is "an Iraq whose stability would remain tenuous in political, economic and security terms." Much like the current situation for the foreseeable future.
President Bush is downplaying this intelligence report, just as he downplayed intelligence reports that suggested Iraq had no WMD, just as he glossed over intelligence reports that Iraq had no connection with 9/11, and just as he completely ignored the pre-9/11 intelligence warning, "Bin Laden determined to strike in US".
John Kerry sharply criticized President Bush on this matter, "You deserve a president who will not play politics with national security, who will not ignore his own intelligence, while living in a fantasy world of spin."
Parenti, traveling down the Diyala River met up with a squad of US troops on patrol,
"Everything's pretty mellow," says one of the soldiers. His comrades read magazines in the Humvee or watch the surrounding trees and houses. "Sometimes they take potshots at us from over there." He points to the village. "But when you meet the people, they're not all bad." None of the GIs are aware of the water situation or the sewage problem or the real extent of the economic crisis around them. But they are not unsympathetic. "Living near a river of shit--that would definitely suck," says one of them. "No wonder these people are pissed."Posted by American Pundit at September 18, 2004 12:30 AM
Kofi Annan has finally “admitted” that a war he fought tooth and nail against from the beginning is “illegal” (compared, I suppose, to his own perfectly legal and honorable profiteering from Oil-for-food?).
Yes, it may be difficult to pass out ballots to the fascists running around in the Sunni triangle, but so what? Let those lunatics disenfranchise themselves—most of them aren’t Iraqis anyway. No matter how the elections comes out, more will get to participate in democracy than in the days when Saddam Hussein “campaigned” and got 105% of the vote, with not a single Iraqi anywhere in the country voting against him.
Posted by: Martin at September 18, 2004 01:13 AMLet those lunatics disenfranchise themselves—most of them aren’t Iraqis anyway.
So the residents of every dangerous spot in Iraq are actually foreigners!!! Wow, Martin. Does the US appointed interim Iraqi government know that? Where did all the Iraqis go? It always seemed like Iraq was a Bermuda Triangle for US troops, but I didn’t know Iraqis were disappearing in massive numbers, too. Explosive stuff Martin. Thanks for sharing.
Seriously, I debated putting in that Annon link, knowing the Bush fans would latch onto it as a way to ignore debate on the main topic. My fault. I just couldn’t help myself. :)
Back on topic, I actually think President Bush is using the correct political tactic in dealing with his poor performance on Iraq, Afghanistan, and the war on terror: Just ignore it and hope nothing really bad happens until after the election.
It’s a pretty good political calculation. If Bush admits there are problems, then he has to deal with them (he is the president, after all), and subsequently his ineptness comes to the forefront of the debate.
Much better for Bush to insist that everything’s going well. By doing that, it becomes a he-said-she-said political issue with most Americans just left feeling confused.
It’s a shame that Bush is placing political considerations above rolling up his sleeves and seriously dealing with the problems in our occupation of Iraq (among other things). But as a political calculation for getting re-elected, I think it’s his best option.
Hear, hear, AP. Well said. It’s so sad to know that most of the people on this blog are smarter than the Idiot in Chief himself. May God HELP America if Dubya get re-elected.
Posted by: rapidray at September 18, 2004 09:06 AMWell done, AP…
But, be prepared for a very short Comment thread, because as Martin’s comment showed so well, it is hard arguing with logic.
Posted by: Bert M. Caradine at September 18, 2004 12:05 PM“Waiter…Oh waiter…over here…the caviar is lumpy and I can’t eat this pate the way your chef prepares it. Do see to this at once!” explaines Kofe Anon between bites at Elaine’s. “However I am prepared to make sacrafices in this regard in support of my beliefs” he says as he does in fact wolf down the lumpy caviar as he looks for his champaign flute…
Posted by: X. Benedict at September 18, 2004 06:30 PMHaha! Bert, you’re so right!
VIETNAM —SCHMIETNAM—-A DIVERSION FROM THE 911 OMISSION I MEAN COMMISSION ? Conflict or Cover UP ? Ask ABOUT the Multiple Military Highjacking SCENARIOS being RUN on 911 …the commission didn’t put it in their ‘COMPREHENSIVE REPORT’
FOR THE WHOLE STORY : http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/071204_final_fraud.shtml
THOMAS KEAN
Before taking his current
position, Thomas Kean
was a director and part
owner of Amerada Hess, a
company that maintained a
partnership with Delta Oil
of Saudi Arabia.
LEE HAMILTON
Kean’s vice-chair, Lee
Hamilton, was the chairman
in the 1980s of the
House Select Committee
on Iran/Contra.
Afterwards, he told PBS
Frontline that he didn’t
wish to indict Reagan or
Bush, because he didn’t
think it would be “good for the country,”
although a wealth of evidence showed that
Reagan and Bush authorized illegal arms
shipments to Iran in 1985.
JAMIE GORELICK
In May 2003, shortly after
joining the Kean
Commission, Gorelick
also joined the
Washington firm of
Wilmer, Cutler &
Pickering. A month earlier,
this firm announced it
would defend Saudi
Prince Mohammed al Faisal, third in command
in the Saudi government–and a plaintiff
RICHARD BEN VENISTE
Richard Ben-Veniste, former
partner in one of
the biggest bankruptcy
firms in the world, Weil,
Gotshal, and Manges. As
the N.Y. Post disclosed, the
firm received a famously
inflated $3 million retainer from Enron, when
the latter filed for bankruptcy in 2001.
SLADE GORTON
Former Republican Sen.
Slade Gorton is a lawyer
in the Seattle firm of
Preston, Gates and Ellis,
which counts among its
clients both Delta Air
Lines and the Boeing
Employees’ Credit Union.
JIM THOMPSON
As for former Illinois
Governor James R.
Thompson, it really takes
no rocket science to figure
out his conflict of interest.
He is chairman of the
Winston & Strawn law
firm in Chicago. From
Jan. 1997 through June
2002, Thompson’s law firm received $1.66
million for federal lobbying efforts on behalf
of American Airlines—one of the two carriers
potentially liable for negligence on 9/11.
THE STAFF MR ZELIKOW
Condoleeza Rice
is a household
name. But most
Americans still
have never heard
of the man who
wrote a book with
her, Philip
Zelikow.
As the executive director of the Kean
Commission, Zelikow is responsible for
framing the agenda. He leads the research
staff. He decides what evidence the commission
sees.
