From: "Faris Jawad" <ana_faris_bila_jawad@hotmail.com>
Iraq reality check:
Americans go from delusion to denial to depression
By Max J. Castro
Slowly, grudgingly, the American people are being compelled by reality
to accept the truth: The Bush administration has led this country into
a quagmire in Iraq. The result: in the latest poll, only 42 percent
approve of the way Bush is handling his job.
On Iraq, the majority of Americans has gone from delusion to denial to
the awareness, now just dawning, that they were misled and that the
war is a tragic mistake. The main reason for this new and still
emerging consciousness is that this war, at the outset opposed by
almost the entire world but supported overwhelmingly by Americans, has
cost more in lives and money than its enthusiastic backers, among the
blindly patriotic masses and the cunning politicians, ever imagined.
It is one thing to watch gleefully, like in a video game, tens of
thousands of Iraqi troops, hopelessly outgunned and fleeing, being
slaughtered by weapons fired safely from above or afar. But this is
not the Gulf War, and it is a far different thing to see, despite the
official ban on photographic images, the mounting toll of your own
dead and wounded, maimed by crude but lethal weapons. One thing is to
go to war with the legitimacy of the United Nations, a real military
coalition, and the financial support of many countries - and with the
justifiable purpose of defeating and expelling an invader. It is
something else to wage an illegal war under false pretenses,
to wage it nearly alone - morally, financially and militarily - only
to become an occupying force existing in constant fear and under
permanent attack. And, most significantly and ominously for Bush and
for the country, it is not the same to win and get out than to engage
in a protracted stalemate with no end in sight, a black hole endlessly
swallowing flesh and funds.
Much too late for Kerry, too late for tens of thousands of dead
Americans and Iraqis, and perhaps too late to avert further tragedy,
the people of this country are waking from their long stupor. All the
polls show it; most Americans now say the war has not been worth the
price and that the country is no safer for it. A Gallup poll in
mid-June found that a strong majority (59 percent) of Americans wants
to withdraw some or all American troops. As to the comparison with
Vietnam, despite the administration's furious efforts to deny any
similarity, nearly two thirds (65 percent) of Americans believe
the United States is bogged down in Iraq.
It has taken a long time for many Americans who backed the war to
admit that they were wrong - mistaken, deceived, or manipulated.
Indeed, many cling stubbornly to their original beliefs in spite of
any and all evidence; one third of Americans continue to affirm that
there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. But the newest numbers
imply that a significant percentage of the public now has crossed the
psychological barrier that has prevented from admitting they erred.
In the latest survey, a New York Times/CBS News Poll taken June 10-15,
51 percent of the public said that, looking back, they thought the
United States should have stayed out of Iraq. Only 45 percent still
believe military action was the right thing to do.
As to the present, the public's outlook is bleaker and getting
bleaker. A strong majority of Americans say the effort by the United
States to stabilize Iraq is going badly - 60 percent, up from 47
percent in February. And the data imply Bush is not escaping blame
for the Iraq fiasco; only 37 percent believe that Bush is handling the
conflict well.
With victory in Iraq nowhere on the horizon and Bush's campaign to con
the American people on social security nearly dead, the President's
approval ratings have taken a sharp plunge. It is no wonder: in the
New York Times/CBS News poll, Americans who thought the country was
going in the wrong direction outnumbered those who thought the country
was on the right track by nearly 2-1.
The media is finally - and carefully - beginning to take notice. Last
weekend, a network White House correspondent noted that one has to go
back to Richard Nixon and Watergate to find such a low approval rating
for a newly reelected president - only to quickly and emphatically add
that no one expects the Bush presidency will meet the same end as
Nixon's.
Another leading indicator is the defection of some former stalwart
supporters, most famously Representative Walter B. Jones, the
conservative North Carolina Republican who once called for the House
cafeteria to rename French fries "freedom fries" and now calls on the
administration to set a firm date for withdrawal from Iraq. GOP
heavyweights such as Senators Chuck Hagel and John McCain have stopped
short of calling for withdrawal but have been sharply critical of the
administration's unrealistic optimism and called for Bush to tell the
truth to the American people on Iraq. That truth, McCain said, is that
American troops will have to remain - and take casualties - for at
least two years.
So far the administration is keeping to its positive spin while vowing
to hold the course, arguing that setting a withdrawal date would
encourage the insurgents, dismay U.S. allies, and possibly lead to the
collapse of the Iraqi government.
This is that rare occasion in which Bush's analysis, if not his
policy, may be correct on all grounds. The hubris of the Bush
administration has led the United States into a classical no-win
situation. The cost of withdrawal would be high, especially for the
Bush legacy and for the dominant and dominating global role the
neoconservatives want for the United States. But staying will have a
huge cost too - an enormous human, military, economic,
political, and moral price - a cost to be borne mainly by the Iraqi
population, the U.S. military, and the American people. The polls
suggest that a growing percentage of the latter understand this and
are unhappy about it.
http://www.progresoweekly.com/index.php?progreso=Max_Castro&otherweek
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| User: "Perseid" |
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| Title: Re: Iraq Reality Check |
27 Jun 2005 12:44:04 AM |
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(Grantland) Spat the Words
From: "Faris Jawad" <ana_faris_bila_jawad@hotmail.com>
Iraq reality check:
Americans go from delusion to denial to depression
Awwe, it's nuthin that getting rid of Bush wouldn't fix.
There is nothing wrong with America that can't be fixed by
what is right with America.
- William Jefferson Clinton
Of course, Bush is part of what is wrong with America.
By Max J. Castro
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| User: "Grantland" |
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| Title: Re: Iraq Reality Check |
27 Jun 2005 01:41:38 AM |
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Perseid <eidpers@anti-spam.comcast.net> wrote:
mithril@iafrica.com (Grantland) Spat the Words
From: "Faris Jawad" <ana_faris_bila_jawad@hotmail.com>
Iraq reality check:
Americans go from delusion to denial to depression
Awwe, it's nuthin that getting rid of Bush wouldn't fix.
Wrong. Hanging the traitors and expelling the Jews is the only fix.
There is nothing wrong with America that can't be fixed by
what is right with America.
- William Jefferson Clinton
Another traitor who needs to be hanged.
Of course, Bush is part of what is wrong with America.
Just another tool amongst tools.
Grantland
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