BUSH PUTS TERROR CARDS ON TABLE

BUSH PLAYED THE SAME HAND again on the war on terror. [story] [White House transcript] The Heretik now asks how come Bush again tries to play everyone else as jokers.  This time he played with some specifics, but they were not too specific.

"We've stopped at least five more al Qaeda efforts to case targets in the United States or infiltrate operatives into our country."

Bush did not elaborate.

MORE NEW STUFF FROM W Progress. Enemy. Murder. Mission. Progress.  Zarqawi. Murder.  Trust me.  George Bush is running out of cards to play.  The Heretik will not say Bush is a joker.  I will leave that to everyone else.

MORE TO SAY [Outside the Beltway] Well, no #$%@.  This is a "major speech"?!

THE HERETIK HEARD Bush say this:

The influence of Islamic radicalism is also magnified by helpers and enablers.

The Heretik believes Bush's own delusions have been magnified by his helpers and enabler.

CARICATURE? [Democracy Arsenal] This looks like another dip into the "let's frighten civilians" pool.  Two problems here:  first, the excerpts I've read so far manage to take the extremist, caricatured doctrines of Al Qaeda and make them sound even more caricatured.  Second, if the President ratchets up the rhetoric like this in response to a bad couple of weeks, what are we going to do on the day that Al Qaeda gets a nuclear weapon or something else really, really bad happens?

THE HERETIK AGREES Bush has blown up the terror balloon about as far as it can go.  We are witnessing it blow up in his face.
 

BUSH DEFINED [Bob Cesca/Huffington Post] I'd like to end with a startling admission by the president regarding the war. He admitted today that his folly in Iraq has resulted in Bin Laden taking control of that nation. In other words, he liberated Iraq from Saddam and handed it over to Bin Laden.

THE HERETIK WOULD SAY what Cesca said and more.  It is cruelly ironic to consider what Bush says in his speech today, not the least the admission that this fiasco will last forever or longer, when it was sold as something else.  And then there is this little bit:

And yet the fight we have joined is also the current expression of an ancient struggle, between those who put their faith in dictators, and those who put their faith in the people.

The Heretik asks where Bush fits in this pithy puffery since he showed so little faith in the people when he first sold this sorry episode.

BUSH HAS A WINNING HAND HERE according to: [One Hand Clapping] [TMH] 

ON BUSH'S "LOGIC" [LEFT I] We'll leave aside the argument that every day the U.S. spends in Iraq it is creating more enemies and thereby making the U.S., and "other free nations," less safe, and go straight to the second part of this absurd argument. Zarqawi and bin Laden have precisely no chance of ever being "in control of Iraq"; the idea is ludicrous. Imagine if Zarqawi or bin Laden were ensconced in a palace in Baghdad, "ruling" the country (don't ask me how they would manage that, let's just suppose). Surely the U.S. would simply drop a nuclear bomb on that palace.

THE HERETIK WOULD NOTE the ancient Greeks made a disinction between logic and rhetoric.  And then there is sophistry.  Bush today engages in a sophistry distinct from its original meaning.  You could say Bush is full of sophistry. Or full of himself.  Or full of something else.  The Heretik is drained by such fullness.  Oy.

MY GOD IS A MIGHTY GOD [Jihad Watch] For the first time that I know of, the President has spoken openly about the jihadists' dream of establishing the caliphate. . . . .

"The militants believe that controlling one country will rally the Muslim masses, enabling them to overthrow all moderate governments in the region and establish a radical Islamic empire that spans from Spain to Indonesia," Bush said. The president has been stepping up his defense of his Iraq policy in the face of declining public support for the war and a crucial test in Iraq with the Oct. 15 constitutional referendum.

THE HERETIK WILL LEAVE IT to the more scholarly to discuss the nuances of the caliphate and jihad (a translitererated meaning of which is struggle).  But before doing that I will say, Bush agains lays Iraq upon terror and terror upon us to get us to succumb to fear.  And fear was the way the war in Iraq was sold to us, but that fear so sown has not reaped the quick and easy fruits Bush thought he would harvest.  We are left with the poisoned tree, with more bitter fruit yet to fall.

THE HERETIK STOPS in his tracks blowing now in desert sand to ask why?  And how did we end up in Iraq when so many other countries harbor leaders at least as mad, with weapons worse than Saddam had.

SO WHAT ARE THE CHOICES? [ECHIDNE] We are presented two choices: George Bush or utter catastrophe.

But these are false choices, because in reality we do have other choices than these two, and in reality George Bush can't keep us safe or protect us against the terrorists, at least without destroying what he says he tries to protect: freedom and human rights.

THE HERETIK DEPLORES the Bush appeal to a postmodern  manichaenism, a deadly duality of light versus depths of darkness where Bush alone magically stands between us and chaos.  Some kind of greatness is needed to convince in such an august argument.  Either a great man, or great chutzpah.  Bush's faith may incline him to view this as the former, whereas the track record reveals the chutzpah. Oy.

SAME AS IT EVER WAS [Blogenlust] Three years ago today, Bush made the case for war in Iraq during an important speech in Cincinnati . . . Three years ago today, Bush made the case for war in Iraq during an important speech in Cincinnati . . . .  same speech, slightly different bad guy. If you go through and exchange every reference to Hussein and Iraq in the first speech with Zarqawi and al Qaeda in today's speech, you're pretty much left with the same end result.

THE HERETIK HAS SEEN this before. And before that.  As Bush said, "See, in my line of work, you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in . . . to kind of catapult the propaganda."

Comments

[zencomix]

Major Speech? The indictments must be just around the corner, otherwise why would they be trotting out this old nag. They shoot horses,don't they?

[Darryl Pearce]

"...stopped at least five..."

Secrecy breeds abuses... but then, we already knew that.

[California Yankee]

Like the Advance of Freedom speech President Bush gave to the National Endowment for Democracy and the Three Pillars speech he gave at Whitehall Palace nearly two years ago, today's speech is another in the series of thought provoking speeches in which the President has set forth an ambitious vision of the post 9-11 world.

President Bush has once again eloquently explained the great struggle in which we are now engaged. President Bush does not get anything like the credit he deserves for his long-term vision for winning the war on terror.

[Agi T. Prop]

"President Bush" and "eloquent" do not belong together in the same sentence.