1 Boring Old Man

It was just a few days ago, the President’s August Press Conference. As usual, I couldn’t watch it live, or even in rerun. I can only take dribbles, little pieces at a time. For example:

You know, I hear a lot of talk about civil war. I’m concerned about that, of course, and I’ve talked to a lot of people about it. And what I’ve found from my talks are that the Iraqis want a unified country, and that the Iraqi leadership is determined to thwart the efforts of the extremists and the radicals and al Qaeda, and that the security forces remain united behind the government. And one thing is clear: The Iraqi people are showing incredible courage.

The United States of America must understand it’s in our interests that we help this democracy succeed. As a matter of fact, it’s in our interests that we help reformers across the Middle East achieve their objectives. This is the fundamental challenge of the 21st century. A failed Iraq would make America less secure. A failed Iraq in the heart of the Middle East will provide safe haven for terrorists and extremists. It will embolden those who are trying to thwart the ambitions of reformers. In this case, it would give the terrorists and extremists an additional tool besides safe haven, and that is revenues from oil sales.

You know, it’s an interesting debate we’re having in America about how we ought to handle Iraq. There’s a lot of people — good, decent people, saying, withdraw now. They’re absolutely wrong. It would be a huge mistake for this country. If you think problems are tough now, imagine what it would be like if the United States leaves before this government has a chance to defend herself, govern herself, and listen to the — and answer to the will of the people.

I read and reread the words – trying to understand what he thinks, what he is saying. I can’t make it make sense. He talks as if the ‘reformers’ [a mythical group] rose up to topple Hussein, and some other evil group is trying to subvert these democratic reformers’ revolutionary ideas – ideas supported by the ‘will of the people.’ In his fantasy, maybe, but it’s not what happened.

I square it because, imagine a world in which you had Saddam Hussein who had the capacity to make a weapon of mass destruction, who was paying suiciders to kill innocent life, who would — who had relations with Zarqawi. Imagine what the world would be like with him in power. The idea is to try to help change the Middle East.

Now, look, part of the reason we went into Iraq was — the main reason we went into Iraq at the time was we thought he had weapons of mass destruction. It turns out he didn’t, but he had the capacity to make weapons of mass destruction. But I also talked about the human suffering in Iraq, and I also talked the need to advance a freedom agenda. And so my question — my answer to your question is, is that, imagine a world in which Saddam Hussein was there, stirring up even more trouble in a part of the world that had so much resentment and so much hatred that people came and killed 3,000 of our citizens.

Through this garbled logic, we hear the essence of the Bush Doctrine [Unilateral Action, Pre-emptive Strikes, Strength beyond question, and Evangelical ‘democracy’]. The way to deal with the Middle East is to change it by force.

There are multiple transcriptions of this conference. This one is from http://www.whitehouse.gov. But even here, his slip was included, "…part of the reason we went into Iraq was — the main reason we went into Iraq at the time …" Clearly, the Weapons of Mass Destruction thing was only ‘part’ of our reason. And where does ‘paying suiciders’ or ‘had relations with Zarqawi’ come from? He conflates al Qaeda and Hussein as if they are the same thing. After all, both are in that ‘part of the world.’ And then we have the report on imagination – the paranoid creation of a pseudocommunity composed of all Moslems in the Middle East that we don’t like.

You know, I’ve heard this theory about everything was just fine until we arrived, and kind of "we’re going to stir up the hornet’s nest" theory. It just doesn’t hold water, as far as I’m concerned. The terrorists attacked us and killed 3,000 of our citizens before we started the freedom agenda in the Middle East.

QUESTION: What did Iraq have to do with that?

THE PRESIDENT: What did Iraq have to do with what?

QUESTION: The attack on the World Trade Center?

THE PRESIDENT: Nothing, except for it’s part of — and nobody has ever suggested in this administration that Saddam Hussein ordered the attack. Iraq was a — the lesson of September the 11th is, take threats before they fully materialize, Ken. Nobody has ever suggested that the attacks of September the 11th were ordered by Iraq. I have suggested, however, that resentment and the lack of hope create the breeding grounds for terrorists who are willing to use suiciders to kill to achieve an objective. I have made that case.

And one way to defeat that — defeat resentment is with hope. And the best way to do hope is through a form of government. Now, I said going into Iraq that we’ve got to take these threats seriously before they fully materialize. I saw a threat. I fully believe it was the right decision to remove Saddam Hussein, and I fully believe the world is better off without him. Now, the question is how do we succeed in Iraq? And you don’t succeed by leaving before the mission is complete, like some in this political process are suggesting.

This part continues the idea of a pseudocommunity, even after a reporter forces him to speak a piece of truth. I think we’ve thought he was confusing al Qaeda with Hussein as ‘spin’ – a way to hide his agenda of American Dominion. While that’s true, I think he actually believes his own fiction. It’s worse than spin. It’s delusion – a fixed, false belief. As a matter of fact, it’s a racist fixed, false belief.

And as for ‘you don’t succeed by leaving before the mission is complete.’ Since the mission appears to be imposing our form of government on another country by force, something that has never, and will never work, we’ll never leave [nor will we ever succeed].

They thought they could ‘fix’ the Middle East. I’ll bet they think they can win at tic-tac-toe by moving first…