A Tough Spot

Iraq is a disaster, a failure, a tragedy, a catastrophe. Even the Poodle has admitted it. It is a daily horror show that has been going on for several years. Yes, most of Congress, the loyal media (NPR included), and many citizens are to blame, but the person ultimately responsible for the war is George W. Bush. Only a fool or a scoundrel would allow him to distort the history of this sordid war and to try and weasel his way out of responsibility by blaming it on someone else (especially the main victims, the Iraqis.)

But Robert Siegel opens tonight's report on Bush's trip to Latvia telling us that Bush "insisted that the surge in sectarian violence is only part of a wave of violence that began back in February." A quick glance back at Juan Cole's Informed Comment from a full year before last February belies such nonsense.

Then David Greene dutifully becomes the uncritical spokesperson for Bush's attempt to pass off blame:

• "Mr. Bush blamed al-Qaeda. He said the terrorist group was determined to set off this sectarian warfare and they succeeded…"
• "The other striking thing we heard from him was a message today to Prime Minister al-Maliki of Iraq that it is up to him to figure out how to end the violence..."

Then Robert Siegel asks a good question, "Why is the US stressing Iraq’s autonomy right now?"

A thinking, rational person would respond, "Well, Robert, given how horribly this war is going, Mr. Bush is clearly looking for somewhere to put the blame before the scale of this disaster becomes fully apparent to everyone and people start demanding accountability." Instead David Greene, White House reporter, states, "You know the President really does seem like he’s in a tough spot diplomatically right now; he wants to express confidence in the new Iraqi government, give them responsibility, but in the same breath he and his advisors say the new government just isn’t able to do the job yet and secure the country…" A tough spot diplomatically? NO, he's being confronted with the reality of a war in which hundreds of thousands of civilians and nearly 3000 of our country's soldiers have died - a war of agression launched with "fixed" intelligence, lies, and a desire to control Middle East oil and to make a killing off of privatizing Iraq's economy.