Are we waking up or am I just dreaming?
Posted on February 26, 2007 - Filed Under Uncategorized
You know, I resisted the temptation for the last week to write this post, but I don’t think I can do it any longer. It’s genesis came while I was listening to NPR report on a speech the President delivered to the ultra-conservative American Enterprise Institute. The excerpt I heard had him addressing the problems American forces have been having in Afghanistan.
And so the fundamental question is, how do you react? Do you say, maybe it’s too tough? Let’s just kind of let this young democracy wither and fade away. Do we forget the lessons of September the 11th? And the answer is absolutely not.
Lessons? I thought the very first, the most primary of all, was this:
Well, first of all, we’ll do what we need to do to achieve the first objective of a long campaign. And the first objective is to bring people to justice who we feel like committed this particular set of atrocities, and to hold the organization accountable and to hold those who harbor them accountable. That’s the first objective of a very long campaign. (Remarks by President Bush and President Megawati of Indonesia, 19Sep01)
What happened to the ‘hunt for bin Laden?’ I am at a loss for how the President could have thought the American people would forget this guy. The funny thing about all of this is something else I heard on the radio today. Apparently:
The New York Times, citing unnamed sources, reported Monday that President Bush has decided to send a tough message to Musharraf, warning him that the Democrat-controlled Congress may cut off funding to Pakistan unless it gets more aggressive in hunting down Al Qaeda and Taliban operatives in its country. (from Fox News)
I laughed out loud when I heard this. Do you see the implication? Pakistan wasn’t doing enough over the last five years to assist in our ‘hunt’, so now that there is a different party in control of the Congress, Musharraf’s government may be held to account. So, is this the President admitting he has been funneling money to Pakistan in reward for mediocre support of our goals there and in neighboring Afghanistan? Sure sounds like it to me.
Anyway, I fear I digressed for a bit there…back to the original point. I am so sick and tired of being told that everything the Administration is doing is somehow related to what transpired on 9/11. The President would have us believe that we choose the brand of toothpaste we do because of those events or that Farmer John’s corn crop was only average this year because of Sept. 11th. You wanna know why I think he does this? It’s to pull at peoples’ heartstrings, to exploit their sense of patriotism and nationalism. It’s to pump people back up when they begin to doubt the way he’s going about things. I am glad to see, as evidenced by the extremely low approval ratings he has had for sometime now, that people aren’t swallowing it anymore. But, as has been his trend, the President continues to stubbornly and blindly disregard what people with whom he disagrees are telling him. Seems to me that’s a pretty prideful attitude. Wait, isn’t pride one of the seven deadly sins? and doesn’t the President like to talk a lot about his faith?
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