The Irony That Is Bush

The Irony That Is Bush

Throughout U.S. history, there are always political figures who either make you laugh or shutter or, like Nixon and Reagan, both. For this latter group, we are forced onto a roller coster ride of extreme highs where their blunders make for wonderful comedies. I remember watching Gerald Ford taking a header down the stairs of Air Force One. And who could forget Dan Quail telling a grade school student to put an E on the end of potato. And then there is the Checkers speech where Richard Nixon actually went on  national television and tried to convince the American people that the fight against communism was a fight to protect dogs like, "Checkers", a truly shameful moment in history but, funny as hell nonetheless. Then there are the deep lows. One such moment came from Reagan as he announced that 15 year old children who committed crimes ranging from selling drugs, this included Marijuana, to murder would be sent to adult prisons. 

But now we have George W. Bush, a man with no sense of irony what so ever. Yesterday he spoke to the Vietnamese president, Nguyen Minh Triet about the war in Iraq. For those who don't know or just forgot, Vietnam was a war in which the United States entered under false pretenses, the Gulf of Tonkin scam that even Robert Macnamera has admitted never happened. What was the pretense? Well, official story was that the North Vietnamese sank two American ships. Now several years later we know it was one of worst lies told to the American people at the time. If that were not enough, there was talk of liberation of the Vietnamese people from the tyranny of the communists. Does this sound familiar. One only needs to replace the word communists with terrorists and Saddam Hussein and you start to get a clearer picture. 

 Fast fast forward to 2003 where George. W Bushes insistence that the Iraq Government had WMDs. The intelligence department uncovered photos of mobile chemical and bio plants. When it became clear that the story was false than the GOP changed the script to, you guest it, liberation. And like with Vietnam, we were going to go in there like gallant knights on white steeds. And like the former war we are getting our butts kicked. This is what solider coming home are saying and journalists who have no ties to corporate media. And like then, we are now in a situation where time is not on our side. The insurgence have the rest of their lives to reduce American troop numbers, either by car bombs, small arms fire, obduction or whatever, they are going no where. And this was the situation in South East Asia. They have home field advantage. So for Bush to attempt to spread his message of Iraq to Vietnam is absolutely absurd.

American soldiers in both wars showed that when you commit such levels of abuse that you are going to be tried at home for war crimes, you also can be rest assured that ordinary citizens of the occupied country in question will take up arms against you. In neither situation was there any attempt to win the hearts or minds of the people at the center of both situations , and this is why there should be little doubt Iraq will end the same way Vietnam did.

Until next time.

http://www.groundhog.tv/apps/editor/staticplayer.jsp?clip=1163794899037.wmv