> > At this point, we need to get serious and not
> > add insult to injury by getting behind the "as the Iraqi's stand up,
> > we'll stand down" approach. There isn't a snowball's chance in Hell
it
> > will work.
>
> Then given thereality of the situation, what should we do?
I saw Bush's speech at Annapolis this morning, and I'm sitting here
disbelieving this is actually happening to the America I know and love.
It's very much like this entire country has been taken hostage by the
handful of neocons who got that invasion to happen. True, a majority of
American's were fooled initially, but that's over and now the reverse is
true. How Bush can get up there and talk like that, as if he has any
semblance of the support it would take to achieve a military victory in
Iraq (and of course, by inference, opposition support throughout the ME;
the major, unspoken part) is truly boggling.
But it's not surprising. Since day 1, that invasion had "we went for
broke" written all over it. Nevertheless, and despite even that, it
still seemed there was room for hope that smarter/wiser people would
emerge and prevail. But here we are today, and there he was today,
drawing a very clear line in the sandbox that we've all been suckered
into.
I've read a few times now that Bush thinks he's on a mission from God.
If that's the case, it would be easy to see how the neocons could have
manipulated him. I don't have inside knowledge, so this is pure
speculation, but something is very wrong is that guy's head. Listening
to Murtha the other day, I had the feeling I was listening to a real
person talking from his heart of hearts, previous mistakes aside, who
now understands the seriousness of what's going on and wants to set
things straight. Listening to Bush today had me more thinking of the
"Manchurian Candidate" than someone even in the same league as Murtha.
What we can do now is support and encourage people who are in a position
to do something. Fitzgerald is on the right track, but he's going so
darn slow!
What else to do? Turn off Fox News and check out some stuff on MSNBC for
at least a partial breath of fresh air. Chris Matthews is a very smart
guy. Pat Buchanan is another one to listen to. Commondreams carries
stuff from a variety of small newspapers around the country that are
worth looking at. Slate magazine has some good stuff. The Nation is good
too.
I can't and wouldn't give up confidence in America. We've course
corrected before, and we'll do it again. The hardest part is getting
decent leadership. The big obstacle is that a lot of people who are
really qualified have made mistakes in their lives and wouldn't stand up
now because the media will slash and burn them. This is a major factor
in why we get such incredibly poor choices at election time.
Nevertheless, this country is loaded with great people, and I just know
that some of them have to be saying "that's enough; we must stop this
insanity" after hearing that speech today.
Bill
> Steve
©2005 Bill Arnold |
