Fisking of the President

Bush has fired the opening salvos in his public relations offensive to defend the war and the remarks in his weekly radio address deserve a good fisking. He said:

"We went to war because we were attacked, and we are at war today because there are still people out there who want to harm our country and hurt our citizens."

George, sweetie, that was the justification for Afghanistan, not Iraq, and you left there without the guy responsible for attacking us, Osama - dead or alive - remember?

"Some may disagree with my decision to remove Saddam Hussein from power, but all of us can agree that the world's terrorists have now made Iraq a central front in the war on terror."

Yes they have, now that we pissed them off by killing tens of thousands of innocent Muslim civilians. Besides it's become the place to get media exposure.

"These foreign terrorists violently oppose the rise of a free and democratic Iraq, because they know that when we replace despair and hatred with liberty and hope, they lose their recruiting grounds for terror."

We handed them the best recruiting tool they ever had by invading and occupying a sovereign Islamic country with no legal justification. The last thing the "foreign" terrorists want is for us to exit Iraq.

"Our troops are fighting these terrorists in Iraq so you will not have to face them here at home."

"These [foreign] terrorists," are a tiny fraction of the insurgency. The insurgents are mainly Iraqi citizens who weren't fighting before we got there and have made no threat against our country. They're defending their own. We're the foreigners in control of Iraq. The insurgents live there and always have.

And think about this. What if a foreign country invaded us to "liberate us" from neo-cons and starting bombing the bejesus out of our infrastructures, leveling entire cities, killing innocent civilians and rounding up citizens "suspected" of being neo-cons and torturing them? Would you fight back to protect your family and property? Of course you would. Would you consider yourself a terrorist for doing so? I think not, but moving on.

Terrorists "know there is no room for them in a free and democratic Middle East, so the terrorists and insurgents are trying to get us to retreat."

Again, there's no reason the real terrorists would want us to leave. It's much better for them to let us stay while they keep beating us bloody, making us look like fools in the court of world opinion.

"Their goal is to get us to leave before Iraqis have had a chance to show the region what a government that is elected and truly accountable to its citizens can do for its people."

Their goal is make us look like incompetent, clueless, idiots while they continue to inflict chaos. Again it's in their best interests to keep us there, bleeding billions and losing world status by their continuous demonstration of our inability to quell them.

"I am confident that Iraqis will continue to defy the skeptics as they build a new Iraq that represents the diversity of their nation and assumes greater responsibility for their own security," Bush said. "And when they do, our troops can come home with the honor they have earned."

Sorry if your confidence doesn't inspire my own Mr. President. I can't help but recall you confidently declaring "mission accomplished" over two years ago. You confidently declared the insurgency "broken" at least a half a dozen times already. And I'll believe that you care about the honor of the troops when you start honoring the soldiers that are coming home from your war right now - unannounced, under the cover of darkness, in flag draped coffins.

"This mission isn't easy, and it will not be accomplished overnight. We're fighting a ruthless enemy that relishes the killing of innocent men, women, and children."

Nor can it be accomplished in 100 years, if the goal is to impose your agenda on the Middle East. Do you think it makes a difference to the survivors if their loved ones were deliberately killed by "ruthless" insurgents or "accidentally" killed by our friendly fire. Democracy and freedom won't bring back their dead, nor will fill their empty bellies or rebuild their destroyed homes. As long as we occupy the country, the onus is on us for bringing this war, uninvited, to their back yards.

"By making their stand in Iraq, the terrorists have made Iraq a vital test for the future security of our country and the free world. We will settle for nothing less than victory."

You chose Iraq as the battleground Mr. Bush, and our country is failing the test. How will we define victory and by what criteria can we declare success anyway? The surest way to end the violence is to remove the cause of it, our presence. If we weren't there in active combat, there would far less media attention. Take away the cameras and you take away the incentive for grand gestures. No point in a suicide bombing if no one is watching.

It's time to bring our troops home and allow the Iraqis to sort out their government on their own. I mean, we really did turn over "sovereignty" to the Iraqi government almost exactly a year ago, didn't we? Why don't we let them exercise it?

Update: Help! Call AAA - I'm caught in a traffic jam at Outside the Beltway.