When George W. Bush muttered those words, I knew this press conference was a joke. Bush has a set of phrases that he'll use to fill the void of valuable questions. "I would've moved mountains." "This war is not going to end any time soon." "Freedom throughout the middle east." "We'll stay the course."
He talks about suicide as an option to express their beliefs in these repressed countries, but no mention of the suicides of the troops fighting his goddam war. He still talks of the weapons that Saddam is STILL hiding, speaking with confidence about how they'll surface. It makes the "conspiracy" theories seem possible. Time will tell, and I just hope AmeriŠans don't swallow it whole from Faux News.
He ignores the question about apologizing & making any mistakes and speaks as if voters are going to be basing their votes on the Iraqi war and terror... no mention of the economy, or joblessness, or poverty, or civil rights.
"When I say something, I mean it," was the 2nd to last sentence of his speech. This man thinks he's a professional wrestler, as a leader. This was his first press conference in 13 months. A secret president is a deceiving president. A simple man he is not. His cabinet war designers and corporate cohorts have set the national agenda.
Another 10,000+ kids are probably getting shipped off to the bloodbath... we're heading in a terrible direction & there seems to be no national opposition of this.
He's not a cowboy, he's a war criminal, and a terrorist.
I agree that bush sucks, that we shouldn't have gone over in the first place, but what happens when we pack up and leave?
We could learn alot from Vietnam- you still have a regime in place there that isn't exactly freedom loving. They are getting better, but most of that can be explained by the gradual acceptace of a capitalist model, with all it's benefits and negative aspects.
There is also the spectre of fundamentalist Islamists, demanding a return to reliious rule. One of the few things that Sadaam did that was (relatively) positive was to keep this zealots in check. He also was a dictator that gwb could only hope for in his wildest wet dreams.
The problem I have with an immediate, hasty departure is the aftermath. We promise these people freedom, then run away?
Perhaps our only hope is a coninued occupation, with the assistance of the global community. Otherwise, you will run into a hornets nest of problems- the Shia itching to get back at the Sunni for the Baathist regime, the Kurds perhaps being wiped out by the Turks, who would love to get rid of them, maybe grabbing a little land in the process.
Freedom is an objective of utmost importance- me being able to say what I've said is a testament to the society that we live in, with all it's many faults. But freedom comes from the desires of oppressed peoples, stiving, and willing to die for it. The revolutionary war is an imperfect example, but it shows a population throwing off the reins of tyranny, wanting to find a better way of life. Sure, the founding fathers were imperfect- they were, after all, human.
So what is our exit strategy? Run away? Lend a hand as many frenchmen and mercenaries did for us during the revolution? Or allow a second Taliban take hold in Iraq. I'm looking for answers, too.
What "freedom" can we offer them? What "freedom" do we have to offer? We're just using "freedom" as a guise to get at their ground and all that lies underneath it. There is no interest in "freeing" anyone... they just want a subserviant society willing to allow american & international business to prosper. When they speak of "freedom" it's only referring to the "freedom" of the capilalist regime to grow there, whether they like it or not. When Cheney, Wolfowitz, and the rest of those terrorists came up w/ the PNAC, they never mentioned "freeing" up oppressed people. Don't confuse yourself. They lied to them, they lied to us, we bought the lie, the media did nothing to prevent it (also actively cashing in) and now we're stuck.
Here's what we do... admit we're wrong, admit we're power hungry, more dangerous than any organized terror group, more lethal and ruthless than any dictator that exists today. Destroy the media for being complicit in all of this, allowing the lies to be spoonfed into our minds. We limit corporate power. We remove all our military bases spread all throughout the world, we stop hiring outside troops to do the work we don't want to be associated with. We attempt to bring democracy to a country that never had it to begin with. We sign the kyoto protocol, and agree to stop making nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons, stop SELLING weapons to other countries, just to order they remove them years down the line. Stop staging coups to place puppet dictators that work well with our system.
That's a start.
Let's get "freedom" here first, then we can look into offering it to others. Just because we can say things here that we can't say somewhere else, (which we are losing thanks to this "freely elected" administration) doesn't mean we have the right to invade, destroy, and rape the people and their land.
On a lot of points, I couldn't agree with you more. It is disconcering to land at the Frankfurt airport and see half of it being used as a US Air Force base. I thought we won WW2- why the hell are we still there (or in Japan, or the UK,etc, etc.) I think these countries can take care of themselves. Selling (or giving) massive amounts of weapons away may help the bottom line of the American economy, but takes away any credibility we may have. Israel makes one of the best assault rifles available, the Galil. How come we see only late model m16a3s in the hands of Israeli solidiers shooting rubber bullets, and all to often military ball ammunition at little kids with slings? Because our countries give them to 'em, allowing IMI to sell the Galil on the open market. Who is David and who is Goliath now? Then there is the massive amount of staight cash we pump into Israel. And we wonder why the Palestinians hate us?
I'd still like to address the issue of HOW we leave Iraq, and what the country will be like whenb we do leave.
The greatest problem with America now is not the government, not the big companies, not an oil tanker named Condileeza.
It is the American people themselves, who are much much more concerned with the NBA or the NFL than with what's going on under their noses. I for one support the draft, with the availability of alternateService (peace Corps, etc.). Why? When the American people start sending their own kids, not just gun nuts and poor kids off to die, they might just notice.
I too, agree with you. I we're in a place too far off the edge of "right & wrong" that there are no longer proper words to express our state.
If we leave, get up, pack up our shit, and depart, only to promise relief with the $$$ we're spending on arms, for the kids and the families and the water and food. And let them organize... let it settle down, let them breathe for a second free of their dictator... let them decide where they want to head, w/o our restrictions, w/o our armed forces staring them down, w/o transnational corporations building and buying and counting their cash in front of sick and injured childred. Let them BE for a moment, allow UN to discuss options, and pay for EVERYTHING we've destroyed (for the past 13+ years)
If they don't want democracy, that's ok! Let them be who they were before all of this nightmare began. That's my idea. If they want to be bitter over our illegal occupation and attempt to attack us, they should! But i would hope they wouldn't, expecially if we're doing all we can to assist them. Of course this speculation is absurd as they wouldn't trust us, I don't trust us, neither do most aware folk. So with a sense of history, examining the situation, it seems we can only get up and go and start a huge tab for our mistakes. That would set the path to a better way i suppose.
Using our power and strength as an offering of peace and good will, not of "democracy" and "freedom"