After hearing Bush’s “new” plan for Iraq, I find myself scratching my head and asking myself a few questions. Of course, we know that this in fact is not a new plan, because he said pretty much the same thing he said 3 months ago. Well, that plus the surge of more troops. Here’s hoping that the funding is killed before he can send any more American men and women to their deaths.
After seeing the speech, and realizing the obvious lack of any real change in our “plan” to “win” Iraq, there are a few things I would like to know:
1) Who is Bush listening to with regards to actually trying to end this war? Because it is pretty clear he isn’t listening to anyone that doesn’t have monetary gain at stake; those serving to make money through this war are just getting richer, and there is no desire for it to end for them. It is pretty clear to me that he is listening to them, but not us… and why not? Isn’t his job to represent our interests (after all, we are paying for this war, and will be for a LONG time to come)? Isn’t that what a Democracy is supposed to do?
2) When is he going to realize that more than 70% of Americans have made it clear that the war has got to end now? (This piggybacks on the last question.) Bush needs to realize that we elected a new majority to speak for us, and that voice needs to be taken seriously. I ask, because his approval rating doesn’t seem to matter to him one bit.
3) Does he really care about the soldiers that have died, as well as those that have been injured (which total WAY more and are, for some reason, never mentioned)? Because he doesn’t seem to have an ounce of remorse, especially as his new plan will call for more deaths.
Quoth the Bush: (source)
Let me be clear: The terrorists and insurgents in Iraq are without conscience, and they will make the year ahead bloody and violent. Even if our new strategy works exactly as planned, deadly acts of violence will continue – and we must expect more Iraqi and American casualties.
Um, when will be in a position to not EXPECT more casualties? What if the plan doesn’t work? Will that mean even more dead? As of right now, there have been over 3000 soldiers lost, and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi deaths. That sounds like enough is enough to me, one more death is one too many. And no more soldiers need to be subjected to injuries; these people are coming home without arms, legs, genitals, etc. That is just not right.
4) If we are trying to end the war, why is there a surge of new troops being deployed? I mean, if the plan is (was) to provide support to Iraq, and help them build up their own military, why hasn’t that worked, since we have been doing that from the beginning? Are more troops really what we need to do something we haven’t yet been able to accomplish? And are 20,000 troops really going to be able to make it happen? Or, is it more plausible that we can’t attain this “goal”, and the best thing to do is make things right (since we started by making them wrong) by ending the war? There have to be better strategies… Oh wait, there are several, but Bush didn’t seem to pay attention any of those. Remember what happened in 2001 when he ignored some good advice… I’m just saying.
5) Since it is obvious that there is no desire to end the war, what will the next steps be? Are we ever going to bring home our troops? If so, is there a plan for getting them out? If there is, what is this plan? To me (and many others) this seems like he is just passing the buck, holding out this war until his term is over. He won’t admit defeat or failure (his lame ass “I accept responsibility” last night was weak and pathetic), and as a result, he will pour everything we have into making it look like we are “making it work”. How is that making things right?
6) Why haven’t we ever acknowledged, and therefore altered our plans accordingly, that the people responsible for the attack on 9/11 are not the ones we are gunning for? And why is that, because wasn’t why the war was started; a war on terror? WTF? I know there are volatile people in the region, but most of those are insurgents gunning for us because we invaded and continue to occupy THEIR COUNTRY. Why aren’t we trying our diplomatic hand at making things better in the surrounding countries; who now are continuing to get more and more pissed at US, and will soon be coming for US??!
As a fellow livejournaler invoking the spirit of Kelly said, “George Bush is a douche-bag…. I want to send that guy a douche bag in the mail.”. Seriously, folks, this guy is a real sadist and mass murderer. Calling him anything less would be inaccurate.
Now, I know that the Bush supporters/conservatives out there are going to go all ape-shit on this post, but I don’t even care. These questions are based on what has been said and what is currently going on… much of it without opinion. Say what you want, and argue all you want, but this war is wrong, and Bush’s plan is plain wrong for suggesting we continue down the same old road. Something has got to change, and I hope that change comes soon. Come through for us Congress! Come through!!
And to you, John McCain, shut the fuck up. You have no idea what you are talking about you douche. You can’t say the “failure” of the war is from the consequences of actions taken by Congress NOW… if anything, that failure has already happened, we are dealing with a mess that needs to be cleaned up ASAP, ass. I might send him a douche bag in the mail too. If you were in Vietnam, and you see the same thing now, how can you continually bury your head in the sand little man? Wake up! (source)
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