Here is the president, rubbing our noses in reality at East Grand Rapids High School earlier today. It must be lonely, being the last person alive who still believes that the problem in Iraq is al Qaeda. Well, not the very last person. Step up here out of the shadows, Dick, so the folks can see you.
We must also expect the terrorists and insurgents to continue mounting terrible attacks. Here is a photo of the destruction caused by a car bomb at a bus stop in Baghdad on Wednesday. The victims of this attack were innocent men and women, who were simply coming home from work.Yet this was hardly a random act of murder. It has all the hallmarks of an al Qaeda attack. The terrorists bombed the buses at rush hour, with the specific intent to kill as many people as possible. This has been long a pattern of al Qaeda in Iraq; this is what they do…
Al Qaeda believes that its best chance to achieve its objectives — which is to drive the United States out of Iraq and prevent the emergence of a free society in the Middle East, is to defeat the security operation by conducting spectacular attacks that provoke Iraqis into taking violence into their own hands — and lead Americans to conclude that the sectarian killing will never be contained.
This strategy is merciless, but it is not without logic. It’s important for all Iraqis — Sunnis and Shia alike — to understand that al Qaeda is the greatest threat to peace in their country. And the question is whether we and the Iraqis will give in, and to respond the way al Qaeda wants. Because of the lessons of September the 11th, the answer is the United States government will not give in to what al Qaeda wants — and the Iraqis must not give in to al Qaeda if they want to have a peaceful society.
During the whole speech, Bush mentioned al Qaeda 32 times. He mentioned Osama zero times. It is as if the president’s idol, Winston Churchill, were to have given a wartime speech in which he mentioned the National Socialist German Workers’ Party 32 times and Hitler not at all.
Of course Hitler's Germany did in fact pose an existential threat to England. The bombs and the missiles proved that every night. And there was a real army to be defeated, not thousands of civilians waging guerrilla warfare (as Jerry has already pointed out.)
Posted by: CCRyder on April 20, 2007 6:56 PMI don't really hold the Osama thing against Bush that much. He's right, in the sense that if we had caught Osama and hanged him, the problem would still exist. Terrorism would still exist. What I hold against Bush is that he hasn't a clue what the problem is, or why it would persist. It's all about real estate, like most terrorism in world -- in this case Palestine. Look at what happened to Carter when he tried to talk sense about our submission to Israel. What happened was that what Pat Buchanan once called the Amen Corner, led as usual by the torture apologist Dershowitz, jumped with both feet on a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.
Posted by: Duff Orben on April 20, 2007 7:14 PMSurely you'll at least admit that Al Qaeda was an existential threat to the World Trade Center.
Posted by: Nugatory on April 20, 2007 7:24 PMSure, and Timothy McVeigh was an existential threat to the Murrah building. But not to the United States. It's pretty hard, maybe impossible, to kill a country. The atom bombs didn't kill Japan, the burning of Dresden didn't kill Germany, we didn't kill Vietnam. The whole idea of existential threat is nonsense, just an unhealthy combination of paranoia and primitive tribalism. Same with religion. We won't kill the Moslem faith and they won't kill Christianity. Whether either or both of them deserves to live is another matter.
Posted by: CCRyder on April 20, 2007 7:52 PMWhat about the Aztec nation? The Mayan Empire?
Posted by: RonnieB on April 20, 2007 9:22 PMfrom Shrimplate:
Iraq as a prep-school football game with spindly and sweet L'il Georgie as the quarterback.
Actual conversation as recollected by the participants:
After contnuous possession and 26 plays, one offensive lineman says to the other: "Hey man, does it seem to you like the football field just keeps getting longer and longer?"
His teamate replies "Yeah. And where the heck are the goalposts? I can't even see them from here."
"I don't even know which way they are!" says the first lineman.
The second asks "And why is that stupid cheerleader quarterbacking?"
The first glances up and says "The clock is counting down the game in effing Friedman Units, man."
The other lineman complains "Don't even look at the score, dude. It's a bummer. I just wish the coach would've given us pads and helmets."
"Dream on," the first guy said, "I don't even have any pants."
"Thanks for reminding me," said the other lineman.
Then came the next snap.
http://shrimplate.blogspot.com/2007/04/snap.html
I do love that Shrimplate, too, ES. That's the best analogy yet.
Posted by: Joyful Alternative on April 21, 2007 11:40 PM