My take on President Bush’s speech @ RNC on 09/02/2004
Posted : September 3, 2004 at 1:06 am [America/Los_Angeles]
Words used in President Bush’s speech tonight:
Saddam Hussein = 5
September 11th = 4
Osama Bin Laden = 0
Al Qaeda = 0 (someone had this as 3)
That’s freaking amazing. Tells you a lot, a lot about why I don’t like how this administration deliberately continues to blur the line by using Iraq and Al Qaeda, Saddam and Osama interchangeably.
What a pity!
We gave Saddam Hussein another chance, a final chance, to meet his responsibilities to the civilized world. He again refused, and I faced the kind of decision that comes only to the Oval Office — a decision no president would ask for, but must be prepared to make. Do I forget the lessons of September 11th and take the word of a madman, or do I take action to defend our country? Faced with that choice, I will defend America every time.
My comments/questions for President Bush:
- Did you ever consider that maybe, just maybe, Saddam was not meeting his responsibilities because he really had nothing to disclose. If only your Administration would have cared to double-check your intelligence information from sources other than Ahmad Chalabi.
- Did you ever consider letting the UN inspectors (Hans Blix and Company) who were in Iraq at that time to complete their “full” inspection, submit their report and then consider if Iraq was still in violation. Hans Blix was asking for more time and yet you ignored his plea.
- It was as if you had this freakish time table in your head and everything else (things like getting UN Security Council to agree with your version of things, Colin Powell’s presentation, work of UN inspectors in Iraq etc. etc.) were nothing but obstacles in the ultimate goal of invading Iraq.
- I also remember that the US troops were already positioned outside Iraq before Colin Powell had even presented his case to the UN and the world about Iraq’s imminent threat. Again, not the sign of a President who claims “violence” was his last option.
I am sorry President Bush, but I find your assertion that you had NO CHOICE on Iraq completely bogus.
I do congratulate you on your actions in Afghanistan as it did achieve good end-results for Afghanistan. Indeed Pakistan would not be “hunting” for terrorists and Al Qaeda had you not shown the leadership and determination to confront the situation after 9/11 head on. I will also agree that your actions did lead to Libya’s decision to disarm, something which they might not have done otherwise. I think the whole world acknowledges your efforts to go after Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and the rest of the world. That’s probably why you’ve a much broader alliance in Afghanistan helping out in nation building.
However, as I have alluded to here, I do hold you accountable for the following without any reservations:
- Your decision to Invade Iraq: You told Americans that Saddam’s WMD were a “grave and gathering threat” that had to be dealt with. Your minions went even further to suggest that things were even more dire. The words “mushroom cloud” and “weapons of mass death” were bandied about with impunity. And so you took this nation to war with Iraq. Guess what. You were wrong. There were no WMD, no gathering or grave danger to Americans from Saddam!
What made things even worse is what you did afterwards. You could’ve simply acknowledged that, while unfortunate, you were glad that Saddam turned out not to be as imminent a threat as you had originally thought. Instead, you and your minions went on another “distortion trip”. Giving us ludicrous reasons and excuses when there really was none. Not once did you say, “Shoot! We screwed up.” Instead you made us feel as if it was never about the WMDs or about Iraq being an imminent threat! And then you and your minions had the audacity to challenge and trample the beliefs, the patriotism, the right to dissent of those who disagreed with you. This repugnant display of pseudo-leadership, false patriotism and (g)utter lies broke the proverbial camel’s back! - No plan to win the peace in Iraq: Your generals and war hawks planned the war diligently going over every possible worst-case scenario and completely “ignored” planning for winning the peace.The result: 978 US soldiers dead, more than 7000 maimed, more than 15000 innocent Iraqi civilians dead, almost 120 billion US tax payer money spent and still no end in sight!
President Bush, you did display leadership qualities during and after the 9/11 crisis. However, somewhere along the way, your weaknesses seem to have finally caught up with you.
What a pity!
- Anand
Category: United (or not) State of American Politics 2004