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"How incredibly fortuitous for the Bush Cabal that such a perfect "catastrophic and catalyzing event" happened to just drop into their laps at a time when it was needed most."

 

 

'Lord' Bush - A Small But Lucky Man 
Posted May 25, 2004 thepeoplesvoice.org

By:
Kerry Tomasi

I came across a couple pronouncements recently. See if you can guess which of the partisan, 'blame America first' liberals made them: 

"The arrogance, inconsistency, and unreliability of the administration’s diplomacy have undermined American alliances, alienated friends, and emboldened our adversaries." 

"Sending our military on vague, aimless, and endless missions rapidly saps morale. Even the highest morale is eventually undermined by back-to-back deployments, poor pay, shortages of spare parts and equipment, inadequate training, and rapidly declining readiness."

So who do you think? Nancy Pelosi, Ted Kennedy, maybe Hillary Clinton?

Actually, these statements are straight from the Republican Party Platform of 2000! 

How about these comments from a Presidential candidate:

"We must be humble in how we treat nations that are figuring out how to chart their own course."
 
"I don't think our troops ought to be used for what's called nation-building."
Which peacenik lefty do you think said this? John Kerry, Dennis Kucinich, maybe Ralph Nader?

Wrong again. These observations came from G.W. Bush during the 2000 campaign.

Now as anyone can see, these statements don't really square with his recent "you're either with us or against us" jargon, or his macho taunt (spoken bravely from behind the castle walls) to the opponents of our 'Iraqi Nation-Building Project' to "bring it on!". Or as Lord Farquaad, the character who portrayed Bush in the movie Shrek put it to his Knights: "Some of you may die, but it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make."

The standard justification for these Republican 'say one thing do another' incongruities is that 911 CHANGED EVERYTHING!!

Yes, some things did change. But one thing that did not was the Bush Administration's plans - drawn up long before 911 - to invade Iraq, as revealed by several recent 'insider' books, and in the 1998 PNAC document. 

Actually, it's within that PNAC document that we find articulated what they believed would be a prerequisite to their invasion plans; the one thing that would be needed in order to bring the American citizenry on board - both emotionally and monetarily. That need, that missing link was, and I quote: "some catastrophic and catalyzing event, like a new Pearl Harbor."

So as it turns out, 911 was not the reason for invading Iraq, it was key to the excuse! 

How incredibly fortuitous for the Bush Cabal that such a perfect "catastrophic and catalyzing event" happened to just drop into their laps at a time when it was needed most.

No wonder Bush joked repeatedly in the aftermath of 911, saying - "Lucky me, I hit the trifecta!"

Knee slappers like that aside, consider seriously where we as a country are today, verses where we might have been if Bush & Company had not been 'fortunate' enough to have 911 and "the war on terra" to wield as a club to get whatever it is their greed or lust for power drove them to desire. 

If not for the fear and trauma generated, would we have naively accepted the obviously bogus and ever changing reasons they threw out for invading Iraq? 

Would we have allowed them to go so far so fast in gutting environmental protections, letting corporate lobbyists write legislative policy in secret?

Would we have sat muted while trillions of dollars in tax cuts were given to multimillion/billionaire individuals and corporate GOP $upporters; draining the national treasury and saddling future generations with enormous debt? 

Would we have numbly accepted the obvious pro-war propaganda coming out of the corporate media, rather than demanding that they do their damn jobs?! Heck, with a little public pressure, some of them might have even had the courage to refuse to participate, on principle, in pre-scripted press conferences!

Would we have accepted - without a fight or a whimper - the Patriot Act, with it's provision that allows any US citizen to be arrested without charge and imprisoned indefinitely without trial, simply at the whim of George W. Bush? (Or if it helps you see it more clearly, at the whim of President Hillary Clinton?) 

If we hadn't been so distracted, wouldn't most citizens - including the majority of non-fundamentalist Christians - find just a tad disconcerting comments from G.W. that he felt "chosen by God" to wage war against evil? This is a man, after all, who has closely aligned himself with the pro-apocalypse crowd, and who has the means to kill everyone on the planet if he so desires; or if he suspects "God" might be wanting him to do so. Maybe that's what he meant - when asked by Bob Woodward how history would judge the war - when he said: "History. We don't know. We'll all be dead." How's that for being a bold visionary!

Again, if 911 had never occurred, would this shallow, pampered, and possibly troubled little man - this living Lord Farquaad - today be able to poll more than a core (meaning those who would fervently support him even if tomorrow he appeared stark naked on the Capitol Steps and declared himself "Devine Emperor of the World") 39% approval rating?

I highly doubt it.

So yes, he is a lucky man indeed.

I just hope, for the sake of this country, and maybe the world, he doesn't "luck out" again and hit another 'trifecta' between now and November.

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© Copyright 2004 All rights reserved by Kerry Tomasi ktomasi@abcs.com

 

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