Thursday, March 2, 2006

To the Land of Gandhi: Apologies From America


On behalf of 66 per cent of the American people, I would like to extend my apologies to the people of India for the fact that our resident tyrant must see fit to despoil their beautiful land with his murderous, demonic presence. But be assured: you only have him for a week; the people of Iraq and residents of New Orleans must suffer the effects of his depredations for years to come.

As a gift to you, people of India, for relieving us of his grueling presence for a week, I offer another in my Life Lessons in a Time of War series, here.

Meanwhile, Terry McKenna, after his rigorous fashion, will return us for a moment to reality, to remind us of what horrors we have permitted to be perpetrated among us. My personal message from this is simple: defeat fear in yourself, and it will be defeated in the nation. Succeed in that, and we can be assured that this nightmare will never happen again. And now, Mr. McKenna:


Paul Bremmer has just released his memoir of his failed mission to Iraq, titled appropriately: My Year in Iraq: The Struggle to Build a Future of Hope. It’s already been reviewed in the Sunday New York Times, and in the NY Review of Books. And no, I haven’t read it, but I am familiar with the reviews, which tell me more than enough.

None of it is a surprise, but it should be to those on the Right who have consistently apologized for a President who went to war based upon a lie, and then bungled the job.

Some key points:

When Paul Bremmer embarked on his mission, he was accompanied by senior staff, none of whom spoke Arabic, and none of whom had any relevant expertise in dealing with the region; it became apparent early on that we needed maybe 40,000 more soldiers to protect Baghdad and the border; but none of the military commanders would go on record asking for more troops; and,if they had, we didn’t have more troops to spare.

And that’s it. Bremmer knew the game was over before the 2004 election. Most Democrats did too. And yes, Saddam Hussein is no longer a threat, but with the threat of Iraq gone, Iran is almost unstoppable.

Now to my own conclusion: the United States is weaker than ever. Our vaunted military cannot defend us against terror. And George Bush doesn’t know how to. (He’s so afraid to make businesses spend any money, that he can’t even make cargo carriers pay for the cost of a full fledged inspection program – done overseas, before the goods are even shipped).

—T. McKenna

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