Bush’s rosy picture
President Bush must think Americans are gullible. He fooled them once into believing that Saddam Hussein was the most wicked, despicable foe imaginable and that the United States must strike. And so it did with decisive force. Bush, landing on an aircraft carrier, declared six months ago that the war was all but over.
Since then troops have continued to die in combat, terrorists continue to bomb, Saddam has yet to be found. Not one weapon of mass destruction has been unearthed. Saddam’s Baath party continues its deadly insurgence. Terrorists are finding new footing both in Iraq. Worse, are reports that al Qaida is streaming back into Afghanistan in the all-but-forgotten front on terrorism that was put aside as Bush waged war on Saddam.
Criticism continues to rise on the home front. There appears to be no defining plan to stabilize Iraq and there is even continual infighting in the Bush administration as to who exactly is running the show.
The president claims he is. “The person who is in charge is me,” Bush said. And this is how Bush takes charge. He continues to hold forth that terrorists are solely to blame, that they, not his decisions, “have made Iraq the central front in the war on terror.”
Even so, the president claims things aren’t as bad as the media portrays. By that he means the major media players, wire services, major newspapers and networks. So he has launched a public relations blitz, inviting smaller media markets in so he can put his own spin on Iraq.
“There’s a sense that the people in America aren’t getting the truth,” he told the Hearst-Argyle. “I’m mindful of the filter through which some news travels, and sometimes you just have to go over the heads of the filter and speak directly to the people.”
So what does the president say about Iraq when he speaks directly to the people? In his Saturday radio address, he emphasized the positive: new currency; bustling markets; store shelves lined with clothes, air conditioners and satellite dishes; construction of roads, ports, railways; an emerging democratic government.
Not one discouraging word. Not one mention the 70 percent of Iraqis are unemployed. Not one mention that the deadly fight continues.
Does the president really think Americans will continue to trust his word on this?