| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"Deuteros" |
| Date: |
10 Jul 2005 07:52:14 PM |
| Object: |
Bush equates "War President" with "Great President" |
Both President Bush and Iraqi leader Ibrahim al-Jaafari consider it an act
of altruism to sacrifice young Americans in Iraq.
"Our people will never forget those who stand beside Iraq, particularly in
these terrible times," stated Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari
during a June 24 joint press conference with President Bush at the White
House. "You have given us something more than money – you have given your
sons, your children that were killed beside our own children in Iraq. Of
course, this is more precious than any other kind of support."
Despite the deepening morass in Mesopotamia and growing disillusionment
with the war on the part of both Congress and the public, Mr. Bush remains
dauntless. Referring to suicide bombers like those who killed at least a
half-dozen Americans in Baghdad on the same day – as well as wounding 11
female Marines – Bush declared: "They figure if they can shake our will
and affect public opinion, then politicians will give up on the mission."
Parents and loved ones of those being killed and mutilated on behalf of
the Islamist regime in Iraq may be losing their ardor for the war, but
George W. Bush – an individual born to privilege, entirely insulated from
the consequences of his own mistakes, and an utter stranger to sacrifice –
will not yield. "I’m not giving up on the mission," he said. "We’re doing
the right thing." To those who believe he should yield to the growing
consensus that the war in Iraq was a mistake, Mr. Bush declared: "My job
is to set an agenda and to lead toward that agenda."
In fact, the job of a U.S. president – as defined by the Constitution – is
much more modest. He’s not the "leader" of the American people, but rather
their agent, empowered to carry out a limited number of relatively modest
tasks. The president’s agenda is actually set by the people, acting
through Congress, within the framework of the Constitution. When Congress
commits our nation to a war – which hasn’t happened in the ongoing
conflict in Iraq – the president acts as Commander-in-Chief, but Congress
still exercises power over funding and regulating the military.
But as Mr. Bush has made redundantly clear, he – like many other political
figures, but to a greater extent than most – considers the presidency to
be an electoral dictatorship. Rather than acting on behalf of the people,
the president, according to this model of governance, acts upon them,
taking their wealth – and their lives – as necessary to carry out a grand
"agenda," such as promoting a global democratic revolution.
"Altruism" of the sort extolled by Prime Minister al-Jaafari – a president
squandering money earned by taxpayers, and sacrificing the lives of their
sons and daughters, on behalf of foreign strangers – is a moral
abomination and a crime against constitutional republicanism. Nearly two
centuries ago, Congressman Davy Crockett learned a critical lesson when a
constituent rebuked him for supporting a "compassionate" welfare measure
not authorized by the Constitution.
Our money, the angry voter reminded Crockett, was not yours to give. The
same is emphatically true regarding the lives of the young Americans that
Bush and his cronies have wasted in their war of supposed liberation in
Iraq.
Megalomania lurks behind the altruistic rhetoric common to politicians. In
defending the war in Iraq, Mr. Bush has cloaked his "agenda" in many noble
guises – retaliation for 9/11, pre-emptive self-defense, protecting the
world from the threat of weapons of mass destruction, "liberating" the
suffering Iraqis from their tyrannical ruler. But the true motivation
behind the conflict – at least where Mr. Bush’s personal interests are
concerned – is probably quite simple. Like Shakespeare’s Henry V, who had
wasted his life in dissipation, Bush the Younger understood that waging
war was the key to claiming the royal mantle.
Biographer Mickey Herskowitz, a writer for the Houston Chronicle, was
hired in 1999 to ghost-write a campaign autobiography for Bush the
Younger. Before being dismissed from the project, Herskowitz conducted
lengthy discussions with the future president and came to know him and his
concerns very well.
"He was thinking about invading Iraq in 1999," Herskowitz recently
disclosed. "It was on his mind. He said, 'One of the keys to being seen as
a great leader is to be seen as a commander-in-chief.' And he said, 'My
father had all this political capital built up when he drove the Iraqis
out of Kuwait and he wasted it.' He went on, 'If I have a chance to
invade…if I had that much capital, I'm not going to waste it. I'm going to
get everything passed that I want to get passed and I'm going to have a
successful presidency.'"
Mr. Bush’s comments at the June 24 press conference confirm the essence of
Herskowitz’s account. To put it simply: George W. Bush is willing to
sacrifice the lives of young Americans to the greater glory of his stature
as "Commander-in-Chief." Like tyrants ancient and modern, he is attempting
to build a throne atop the lifeless bodies of those he regards as his
subjects -- while swaddling his ambitions in the language of altruism.
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| User: "quibbler" |
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| Title: Re: Saddam Hussein was a "War President" too |
10 Jul 2005 10:37:44 PM |
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In article <42d1c2be$0$253$892e7fe2@authen.white.readfreenews.net>,
deuteros@xrs.net says...
Both President Bush and Iraqi leader Ibrahim al-Jaafari consider it an act
of altruism to sacrifice young Americans in Iraq.
Perhaps some american youth are making this sacrifice due to misguided
feelings of altruism, due to all the propaganda and lies they've been
fed. But there is nothing altruistic about the war criminal, traitor-
in-theif George W Bush or his puppet stooge al Jaafari.
--
Quibbler (quibbler247atyahoo.com)
"It is fashionable to wax apocalyptic about the
threat to humanity posed by the AIDS virus, 'mad cow'
disease, and many others, but I think a case can be
made that faith is one of the world's great evils,
comparable to the smallpox virus but harder to
eradicate." -- Richard Dawkins
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| User: "Shobha" |
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| Title: Re: Saddam Hussein was a "War President" too |
10 Jul 2005 11:45:39 PM |
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The "war" instinct is nothing new. Its as innate as the instinct for
self preservation or jealousy.
But the current rulers of US and UK seem to think it fashionable to
blindly obey the dictates of their genes ... that which helped our
hunter-gatherer ancestors get more resources (food, territory, women)
etc.
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