When Will They Ever Learn?

The following letter -- apparently written in all seriousness -- appears in today's Seattle Post-Intelligencer:

The news from Iraq is increasingly good and hopeful, so what are the media talking about? Scott McClellan's denunciations of the Bush administration. McClellan himself admits that the final product is not the book he set out to write and that he is a recent convert to his current views. My guess is that he succumbed to pressure from his anti-Bush publishers and sold out his soul for big royalties and media buzz. Certainly the media are hungry for new anti-Bush material.

To take only one point, the war in Iraq, Bush has already been vindicated. The war had changed the whole dynamic of the Middle East in our favor. Al-Qaida, that once powerful global network of death merchants, has been decimated. Iraq, once an enemy, is now a friend and ally. Americans, once portrayed as the enemy, are now seen by Iraqis as real people, friends, protectors and helpers.

There is another benefit to this war. America has show the willingness to act, take risks, pay a price and assume the mantle of world leadership. This is what the world has needed. Bush is one of the greats.

Plainly, this person mainlines the White House Kool-Aid. Pulling this apart is easier than knocking over a house of cards. It's just as much fun, so here goes:

• "The news from Iraq is increasingly good and hopeful." This is mother of all canards, a hoax perpetrated on a now wised-up public. I won't rebut the argument that the surge enabled some short-term security gains, although it was hardly the sole factor. But it produced no long-term political progress, which was the point in the first place.
• "The war has changed the whole dynamic of the Middle East in our favor." The war has actually changed the dynamic of the Middle East in Iran's favor, and it gave an assist to Hamas as well. Meanwhile, we're bogged down in one of the most unstable, volatile parts of the world because of our addiction to oil. We need policies that make the Middle East as irrelevant as possible to us, not ones that entangle us further.
• "Al Qaeda...has been decimated." Unfortunately, there's no evidence of this. Al Qaeda In Iraq did not exist before the war. The Pakistan-Afghanistan border remains a safe haven. The war serves as a recruiting tool. Al Qaeda has taken credit for the bombings of mass transit systems in London and Madrid. None of this sounds like an organization that has been decimated.
• "Iraq, once an enemy, is now a friend and ally." There is no Iraq. It's a shattered vessel of sects and splinter groups vying for power by fighting each other and by killing Americans. The official Iraqi government has proven unable stop them and remains in power only because the United States props it up. With friends like that...
• "Americans, once portrayed as the enemy, are now seen by Iraqis as real people, friends, protectors and helpers." Then how come so many Iraqis keep trying to kill Americans? Why can't Americans venture outside of the Green Zone unescorted by the military? Why do polls of Iraqis consistently show that they want us out?
• "Bush is one of the greats." No comment. Although the question "great what?" comes to mind.

Meanwhile, the Washington state Republican party wants to deny citizenship to children born in America of parents who are illegal immigrants. Why is it that the right wing -- which claims a monopoly on patriotism -- constantly looks for ways to tinker with the Constitution? If it's not this, it's a balanced budget amendment, a so-called defense of marriage amendment, or an anti-choice amendment. The Bush Administration's contempt for the Constitution and constitutional rights is part-and-parcel of this -- a logical extension of a generalized right-wing attitude of claiming to love America while fearing everything about it...

Quote of the Day:
"Our will is being tested, but we are resolute. We have a better way. Stay strong! Stay the course! Kill them! Be confident! Prevail! We are going to wipe them out! We are not blinking!"
-President George W. Bush, April 6, 2oo4

Dr. John releases City That Care Forgot tomorrow. Early reviews (here and here) are highly favorable.

R.I.P, Bo Diddley...

Note to S. B.: Have you seen The Krayolas yet? And if not, whadderya waitin' for? They're at the Blue Star Brewing Company -- part of the Blue Star Arts Complex (a great place, incidentally) -- on August 1.