The Duck of Death

Little Bill Dagget: That you here, Bob, on the cover? "The Duck of Death?"

W. W. Beauchamp: Duke. It's the Duke. "Duke of Death."

The president of the United States
does not have the sense God gave a duck
--Molly Ivins, on GWB

And I cry a lot. I do a lot of crying in this job.
I'll bet I've shed more tears than you can count, as president.
--from president's bio Dead Certain, Robert Draper
_________

I'll bet he hasn't; not everyone is limited in his counting ability by his number of fingers.

Below are some thoughts on Bush's 9/13 address:

"There come moments that decide the direction of a country and reveal the character of its people. We are now at such a moment." We are at such a moment, but the character of our people is not at issue -- it is the character of U.S. leadership that falls short of reflecting the greater historic values of this nation.

"In Iraq, an ally of the United States is fighting for its survival. Terrorists and extremists who are at war with us around the world are seeking to topple Iraq's government, dominate the region, and attack us here at home. "

There is truth and falsehood in equal measure here. Terrorists and extremists may be trying to topple Iraq's government and dominate the region, but isn't that exactly what the belligerent U.S. policy also inflicted upon the Iraq nation?

U.S. forces are fighting to enforce GWB and Cheney's will and to dominate the region. It is no surprise there is a counteraction. The U.S. is far from home and lacks legitimacy in this phony war. It is doubtful that al-Qaida in Iraq (AQI) is interested in attacking the continental U.S.

What a crock

"General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker testified before Congress about how that strategy is progressing. . .conclud(ing) that conditions in Iraq are improving, that we are seizing the initiative from the enemy, and that the troop surge is working."

Progressing and improving are nice, nebulous, non-quantifiable words. If this qualifies as progress and improvement, Ranger hopes these words never enter a description of his life. Note that GWB calls U.S. adversaries in Iraq the enemy, thereby conferring legitimacy upon them.

Ranger assumes that since they are the enemy, the U.S. will now confer POW status upon their captured personnel.

"As I will explain tonight, our success in meeting these objectives now allows us to begin bringing some of our troops home." Of course, this is unscrupulous and disingenuous, as this drawdown after the surge's tour would occur anyway.

". . .in areas that have been cleared, we are surging diplomatic and civilian resources to ensure that military progress is quickly followed up with real improvements in daily life." And what improvements to the daily lives of American taxpayers are we seeing from this surge?

"Anbar province is a good example of how our strategy is working. Last year, an intelligence report concluded that Anbar had been lost to al Qaeda." When intelligence reports can be twisted to fit GWB's perverted logic, then they are relevant and cheered as administration successes. Otherwise, they are marginalized. Intel reports are the analysis of facts, anyway, and generally reflect the bias of the senior man in the cycle.

GWB assures us that "new jobs are being created and local governments are meeting again." Hopefully, these reconstruction teams can move into my blighted hometown and produce jobs for some desperate U.S. citizens.

"One year ago, Shia extremists and Iranian-backed militants were gaining strength and targeting Sunnis for assassination. Today, these groups are being broken up, and many of their leaders are being captured or killed."

And what of it? Okay --they are captured. Then what? Please tell this dumb Ranger --then what?

"The [Iraqi] government has not met its own legislative benchmarks -- and in my meetings with Iraqi leaders, I have made it clear that they must." If these are their own benchmarks, then why must they be met, and why does GWB's order that they must have any relevance to a sovereign Iraqi nation? If the President would read the much-touted U.S. Counterinsurgency Manual, you'd find it's not about us.

"Yet Iraq's national leaders are getting some things done. For example, they have passed a budget." Woo-hoo--they've passed a budget. Simple enough, since the U.S. taxpayer is floating the bill. Maybe the Iraqis, in a goodwill reciprocity project, can send consultants to Congress to help our leaders pass a realistic budget based in fiscal realities and tending to American needs.

"The success of a free Iraq is critical to the security of the United States." How is this true? America was safer when Saddam was in power. Do we forget this -- that Saddam was the balance to Iran?

The coup de grace: "[If we leave] Iraq could face a humanitarian nightmare. . . And as we saw on September the 11th, 2001, those dangers can reach our cities and kill our people."

Dire Straits

Iraq IS a humanitarian nightmare, one of our own making. 9-11 did not originate from Iraq. The war in Iraq has absolutely nothing to do with the security of America, but everything to do with the security of oil passing through the Strait of Hormuz, as Mr. Greenspan was so kind to clarify recently.

"[We must] work for peace in the Holy Land." What is the "Holy Land"? Ranger cannot find this in State Department guidebooks. This isn't bible class.

"Let us come together on a policy of strength in the Middle East." How about strength in America? The middle East is not in Ranger's backyard, but a lot of indigenous poverty, ignorance and need is.

Bush exhorts the Iraqis to be resolute in the path he has set out for them, and says, "have confidence that America does not abandon our friends, and we will not abandon you." When did we start this policy? We have and do, and the Iraqi's are well aware of this.

He mentions cooperating with the "new and expanded mission of the United Nations in Iraq." A 180 from his early derision of that organization. Consistent participation in that often-flawed body is the key to U.S. security. The coalition's questionable 36 nations (2 of whom remain missing) are meaningless if the world community views America as an aggressor nation.

"It is never too late to advance freedom." True enough, so let's rock and roll. We could start by making motions of impeachment against both GWB and Cheney, the terrible twosome.

This divestment would best serve the freedom of the average American taxpayer.