by James Glaser
December 1, 2005

Another presidential speech, another military base, this time at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. Yes, President Bush is the Commander-in-Chief, but he is also the country’s leader. That means we civilians should get a chance to hear the man in person, too. Of course now that I think about it, I would never be allowed to attend any of George’s speeches, because for one, I wouldn’t pay the money, and two, I doubt I would pass the screening process. The Bush administration knows who is with them, and who is not. I could be ruled out, just by the fact that I still believe in the Constitution.

George’s talks, at military bases have become a propaganda tool. Like his Mission Accomplished speech on the aircraft carrier, this speech had a huge banner behind the president too. This one had the word VICTORY in large bold letters. This president knows which lines will get him applause from the men and women in uniform, and that sounds good for the sound bites on Fox. Also, if you have ever been in the service, you know you better clap and cheer when you are told too.

In Bush’s speech, he said, “Failure is not an option.” Somebody should clue the president into the fact that we have already failed. Killing tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis is a failure, as is maiming tens of thousands of them too. Destroying cities and having the photographs of the Iraqis we have tortured broadcast all over the world is also a failure.

Here at home, most Americans feel that having 18,000+ of our troops killed and wounded taking a pitiful third world country like Iraq, smacks of a terrible failure. The word “Failure” fits almost all of George Bush’s Iraq policy.

Having 80% of the Iraqi public tell pollsters that they want us out of their country sounds pretty bad to me, and when the first Prime Minister we install says that things in Iraq are worse now than when Saddam was in power, well, that does not sound like we are on any road to victory.

So, once again the American people get to listen to a speech that is written to sound good to George’s conservative base, and the military troops who are fighting his war. We are told things about Iraq’s new army that no one other than the president will say. George talks about thousands of trained Iraqi troops, but in truth there are less than a thousand.

There are three factions in Iraq, the Shiite, Sunni, and Kurds. These groups are almost in a civil war now, but last week they all agreed on one thing. At the end of a meeting of these three groups in Cairo, Egypt, set up by the Arab League, they all agreed that a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign troops from Iraq was needed. Somebody should report this to the President, because he thinks all Iraqis, except for the “few” fighting us, want us to stay.

I am sure we will have to listen to many more military base speeches by our president, because military bases are the only places that George Bush feels comfortable enough to speak. George will talk about patience and victory, as more and more American troops and innocent Iraqis are killed and maimed. Corporations in the defense industry will continue to make billions, and the war will continue on until the American people start shouting loud enough for the President to hear them over the applause required of the troops.