What Color Is the Sky On His Planet?
Yesterday, George W. Bush spoke at the United Nations. His speech sounded very familiar, primarily because it is essentially the same speech he gave five years ago and multiple times in the last two weeks. Although the speech was delivered to the world body, it was fairly clear that the real intended audience was the United States: the terra-terra-terra motif was strong, as was the unstated justification for the Iraq War (freedom for the Middle East imposed by the barrel of a gun). From the NY Times:
Mr. Bush also defended his foreign policy, exhorting the world leaders in attendance to join with him in his goal of transforming the Middle East by pushing for democracy there.
“From Beirut to Baghdad, people are making the choice for freedom,” Mr. Bush said. “And the nations gathered in this chamber must make a choice, as well: will we support the moderates and reformers who are working for change across the Middle East, or will we yield the future to the terrorists and extremists?" [Note: a transcript of the speech is located here.]
It is unlikely that the world is going to believe this speech any more than it has the past speeches. It will be seen as just one more piece of evidence that our Emperor refuses to have anything to do with reality. I suspect that this piece from Financial Times Deutschland could just as well have been written for today's edition as for the date of its publication (September 12, 2006).
Clearly nothing new ever occurs to George W. Bush. On the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks the U.S. President gave his old standard Why-We-Have-to-Hold-Firm speech with the old familiar argument: America has been attacked and has to carry the battle to the terrorists.
The best remedy for terrorism is freedom and democracy, therefore young Americans must fight and die in Iraq. Every failure strengthens the terrorists and leads to further attacks. And he addresses Osama bin Laden in the usual way: We'll catch you, he says to the terrorist, a threat that, after a five-year chase, sounds a bit comical.
In theory, Bush's line of reasoning, which he has repeated more or less verbatim for years, isn't entirely wrong and has a certain internal logic. In practice, it has long since been proven unsuitable as a strategy in the battle against Islamic terror, or as a justification for the Iraq War. That Bush continues to rattle this off proves yet again that for the President, reality is an uncomfortable parallel universe, one with which he prefers not to come into contact. [Emphasis added].
It's kind of embarrassing: the rest of the world has figured this out, but between 35% and 40% of Americans still haven't.
Mr. Bush also defended his foreign policy, exhorting the world leaders in attendance to join with him in his goal of transforming the Middle East by pushing for democracy there.
“From Beirut to Baghdad, people are making the choice for freedom,” Mr. Bush said. “And the nations gathered in this chamber must make a choice, as well: will we support the moderates and reformers who are working for change across the Middle East, or will we yield the future to the terrorists and extremists?" [Note: a transcript of the speech is located here.]
It is unlikely that the world is going to believe this speech any more than it has the past speeches. It will be seen as just one more piece of evidence that our Emperor refuses to have anything to do with reality. I suspect that this piece from Financial Times Deutschland could just as well have been written for today's edition as for the date of its publication (September 12, 2006).
Clearly nothing new ever occurs to George W. Bush. On the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks the U.S. President gave his old standard Why-We-Have-to-Hold-Firm speech with the old familiar argument: America has been attacked and has to carry the battle to the terrorists.
The best remedy for terrorism is freedom and democracy, therefore young Americans must fight and die in Iraq. Every failure strengthens the terrorists and leads to further attacks. And he addresses Osama bin Laden in the usual way: We'll catch you, he says to the terrorist, a threat that, after a five-year chase, sounds a bit comical.
In theory, Bush's line of reasoning, which he has repeated more or less verbatim for years, isn't entirely wrong and has a certain internal logic. In practice, it has long since been proven unsuitable as a strategy in the battle against Islamic terror, or as a justification for the Iraq War. That Bush continues to rattle this off proves yet again that for the President, reality is an uncomfortable parallel universe, one with which he prefers not to come into contact. [Emphasis added].
It's kind of embarrassing: the rest of the world has figured this out, but between 35% and 40% of Americans still haven't.
posted by Diane at 3:52 AM
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