- Forget "The eagle has landed." On Thursday,
the turkey landed - on many Americans dinner plates, and on the runway
of the airport formerly known as Saddam Hussein International.
-
- The stupidity of conservatives never ceases to amaze
me, as well as that of the media (and the majority of the American people,
come to think of it). And to MY way of thinking, no-one has got this trip
right yet.
-
- Thus far, the focus has been on the secrecy surrounding
the trip, the choice of Fox News to accompany the president, (which pretty
much sums up his credibility level when he chooses the television equivalent
of the National Enquirer to assist him in his chicanery). The focus has
also been on whether or not it was a wise decision for the president to
make (what? Like wisdom has been a staple of this administration thus far?)
-
- When I first learned of this trip, a couple things came
to my mind immediately.
-
- First, the obvious... Remember all the times Mr. Bush
told us how swimmingly things were going in Iraq - much different than
the "'perceptions" we were being given by the American "filtered"
media - well except Fox News of course. (Which raises the question. I wonder
if the anchors and hosts at Fox have to provide their own Vaseline, or
if it's in their contract that Fox has to). Now... if things are so hunky
dory in Iraq; if it's just a handful of rag-tag Baathist loyalists and
remnants who are causing all the trouble - why all the secrecy? Why even
take Air Force One? Why not just book your flight with 'Air Liberation',
so that the overwhelming majority of the Iraqi populace who just LOVE our
presence in their country, and think it's just so Mohammed when their 4
and 5 year olds are frisked - they could be waiting for you at the airport
with flowers and chocolates.
-
- While much of the focus of the president's trip to Iraq
(rightly so, and primarily because it is so obvious) has centered on the
fact that the very nature of the trip demonstrates how dire the security
situation in Iraq truly is, there hasn't been as much mention as to how
this "nature" undermines the administration's claims to the contrary.
-
- But here's the other thing that came to my mind after
learning of his secret trip to Iraq - and the part of the equation that
no-one seems to get, or simply doesn't have the balls to articulate.
-
- Listen to this first line in a story from London's "The
Telegraph" on Friday..."President George W. Bush was back at
his Texas Ranch yesterday basking in the most adulatory coverage in months,
as an admiring American media described his surprise trip to Iraq as one
of the boldest ever presidential forays."
-
- BOLD?!?! Doesn't anybody get it? Let's put the pieces
together.
-
- First piece... I remember this pathetic, cowardly little
man in the White House standing before the cameras and saying... "Bring
'em On". And I remember how his mindless boot lickers praised him
for his bravado - too damn stupid to realize that a comment like this was
putting our troops in FAR more danger than any 10 stories the media could
report - the same media who essentially handed Bush his war on a silver
platter - the same media this administration and their apologists now like
to blame for the deaths or our soldiers.
-
- Second piece... Last Monday at Fort Carson, Colorado...
the president said "The United States of America will not be intimidated
by a bunch of thugs."
-
- Third piece... During his visit with the troops in Baghdad,
he said "We did not charge hundreds of miles into the heart of Iraq,
pay a bitter cost in casualties, defeat a brutal dictator and liberate
25 million people only to retreat before a band of thugs and assassins."
Now first of all... What do you mean "we", Kemo Bushbey? The
only charge you've led is the one against our values, intelligence, decency,
reputation and civil liberties... altho' you have been charging a lot to
America's American Express card, haven't you?
-
- Fourth piece... On the plane, just 3 hours from Baghdad,
Bush said "I was fully prepared to turn this baby around and come
home." Again - YOU were prepared to turn the plane around, Mr. Resident?
-
- Is it starting to become clearer here what the main issue
of this Iraq trip SHOULD be? Let me bottom line it... plain and simple.
-
- When the coward in chief is safe and sound in America,
he says... "Bring 'em On", or..."We will not be intimidated
by thugs." Now don't you think a more appropriate time to say that
- if indeed you were a man of courage, honor, conviction and "boldness"
- would have been if you were planning to GO to Iraq, or when you were
already THERE in Iraq?
-
- But what did he say instead? First thing he said was...
"Shhhhhhh." The second was, "I was fully prepared to turn
this baby around and come home."
-
- Put another way - when it's the lives of our soldiers
that are at risk, Bush says "Bring 'em on" or, "The United
States will not be intimidated by a bunch of thugs." When it's HIS
sorry ass that might be in peril, he says, "if anyone finds out I'm
coming... I'M turning this plane around and going home." And for this
act of seemingly unnoticed cowardice, he's called... bold?!
-
- Where's the boldness? Where's the bravado? Where's the...
"Bring 'em on", and "We won't be intimidated by thugs"
when it really matters? Wouldn't THAT have been the time for the bra-a-a-v-e
Commander in Chief to say "Hey, you want a piece of me? I'm coming
to 'gitcha'. Gonna' smoke you out. Dead or alive. Take your best shot...thug!
Bring it on.. THUG!!
-
- Nope. When there's a chance he might face the same kind
of danger he himself has CREATED for our soldiers; and it's time for him
to put action to words? No bravado and no courage at all. Instead there's
"Shhhhh" and "I'll turn this baby around and come home."
-
- And yet the... "liberal media" (God, that's
one lie I am getting so sick of)... the "liberal media" absolutely
gushes and slobbers all over this cowardly performance and calls it one
of the boldest presidential forays EVER!!
-
- And you wonder why the majority of Americans still support
this arrogant little coward? I'll TELL you why they do. Because no-one
is telling them he IS an arrogant, little coward, that' why. They're telling
the American people... he's bold.
-
- And actually, he IS bold. He's bold with his LIES! That
coupled with the fact that he lies so constantly - many people who ARE
aware of how long his nose is are in such shock by how blatant and in your
face many of his lies are - are left speechless with their jawbones dragging
on the ground. Case in point - right after he went on television and admitted
there was no evidence to support a link between Saddam Hussein and 9-11,
he went back to his very effective "propaganda by segue" schtick,
and the next time he tried to justify his misguided debacle in Iraq, he
said it was important to learn the lessons of 9-11. RIGHT THERE - someone
should have raised their hand and said "Uh, Mr. President? You're
doing it again. You just said yesterday there was no link, but now by segueing
from 9-11 into Iraq, you're implying there is. People with REAL values
call that lying." But did anyone say that? Besides me? Not that I
heard.
-
- And you know why he was able to say again for the umpteenth
time just the other day that the Taliban were gone forever? Because the
very FIRST time he said it - right after a barrage of reports that the
Taliban were reconstituting themselves - no-one raised their hand and said,
"Uh, Mr. President, there is report after report coming out of Afghanistan
that say the Taliban are not only resurging, they actually control several
provinces in the country, and that we don't even completely control Kabul
anymore. How can you in all good conscience - being a man of God yourself,
in fact, the man God himself chose to lead this great nation"... (and
I guess that makes sense... he certainly wasn't the first choice of the
American people in 2000)... "How can you stand before this great nation
and "boldly" LIE to them?"
-
- I would like to ask the president these questions. Is
this your way of making us all pay for not electing your father twice?
Is it your way of making us pay for not electing you even ONCE? How badly
do you feel we need to be punished for just not being smart enough to realize
who God himself wanted in the oval office in the year 2000? And is this
how your sick mind has justified acting like a dictator and stifling democratic
dissent - because you know you were never democratically elected in the
first place, so like, what difference does it make?
-
- "Bottom line is folks... we're losing the battle.
No-one seems to be able - or they don't have the GUTS - to look past the
surface of this administration's shallow, deceitful crap and report what
the REAL story is. Not one news show I watched on television, or one person
I saw on any of the shows said "The main thing this trip proves is
that not only is Bush a LIAR... he's a GUTLESS liar as well!"
-
- And here's one other element you can add to this story,
just to use this administration's blustering bulls--t against them. By
including a "turn around and head home" provision in his travel
plan, could not a case be made that while he was verbally saying "We
will not be intimidated by thugs", what he was insinuating was "I
will be intimidated by thugs"? And then, using the president's own
criteria for dissenter demonization, could not a further case be made that
Mr. Bush provided aid and comfort to the enemy (now defined as anyone who
disagrees with Bush's occupation or policies), by acknowledging how precarious
the situation in Iraq really is by including a "turn around"
provision?... and by demonstrating to the "terrorists" (now defined
as anyone who disagrees with Bush's occupation or policies) how successful
and feared their resistance is by the "Top Goon" in the United
States? When any other American does this, this administration and their
hit men label them unpatriotic and unsupportive of the troops, but when
Bush does it, he's called... bold? Just food for thought.
-
- Back to the real issue behind "the trip" -
namely, cowardice. From "Bring 'em On" and "WE won't be
intimidated by thugs" to I'M gonna' turn this baby around and go home".
And yet the media - (even the British media for God's sake, who certainly
should be able to figure this one out) - drops the ball once again, and
calls this "one of the boldest presidential forays ever"? How
insulting. All I see is blatant, 2 faced hypocrisy, and spineless, shameful
cowardice. Verbal machismo backed by physical retreat do not equate with
courage. But to anyone familiar with Mr. Bush's military record or his
actions on that fateful day in September 2001, this is par for the course.
And while Mr. Dressup in the White House's physical actions may be bold
in their sheer audacity, they are certainly not bold in the positive context
the media is framing them in now.
-
- Where I come from, "boldness" must be rooted
in honesty. And seeing as we cannot count on the media to inform the American
people, let us never forget the one over-riding truth in this entire Iraqmire.
Bush lied and our soldiers died. Period. Our men and women - our brothers
and sisters - and our kids. And the only "boldness" in this equation
are the repeated lies Bush, his administration and our compliant media
keep shoving down America's throat with such force they would make Linda
Lovelace herself gag. Bold.. my... ass.
-
- Doug Basham broadcasts every weekday morning on AM 1230
KLAV in Las Vegas from 8 - 9 AM Pacific. The show is also simulcast on
the internet. For more show or guest information, to listen live on the
web, or to sign up for his free email newsletter, please visit <http://www.dougbasham.com>http://www.dougbasham.com.
Doug can be reached <mailto:atbashamradio@cox.net>atbashamradio@cox.net
, or toll free at 1-866-DOUG-911. This article is copyright Doug Basham
and originally published by opednews.com but permission is granted for
reprint in print, email, blog or web media so long as this credit paragraph
is attached.
-
- http://www.opednews.com/basham1103_baghdad_coward.htm
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