THE BUSH DOCTRINE

NOBODY NOTICED the restatement of the Bush Doctrine yesterday. Yesterday’s speech on Iraq by George Bush is now being peddled as a place where he admitted  “mistakes” and took “spontaneous” questions from the crowd. If you look at what Bush actually said, another narrative is apparent. A certain pattern now reveals itself in the staging of the four speeches Bush is giving on Iraq before the elections there this Thursday.  The backdrop for the speeches is at least as important as the “message.”  Some mistakes have been made here.

STYLE AND SUBSTANCE Bush’s first speech at the Naval Academy stated his broad premise  Victory, Victory.  Those who doubt this will be attacked. The second at the Council on Foreign Relations disregarded the usual question and answer format following speeches there. And now in his third speech in Philadephia, Bush appears to answer the people with questions, but only after engaging in his usual certain circular logic.  Why are we in Iraq?

Yet the terrorists have made it clear that Iraq is the central front in their war against humanity, so we must recognize Iraq is the central front in the war on terror.

BUSH CONTINUES to blur the front of the war on terror and the war in Iraq, even as he admitted in his first speech that the terrorists were the smallest part of opposition to United States policy and presence in Iraq.  A new line posed is that Bush admits mistakes in Iraq, most notably by the New York Times Elisabeth Bumiller:
In his remarks, Mr. Bush effectively said that the administration had made mistakes in Iraq. This is sleight of hand and slight of analysis. Bumiller writes:

In his remarks, Mr. Bush effectively said that the administration had made mistakes in Iraq. The president recalled, for example, that in the summer of 2003, the United States proposed that the Coalition Provisional Authority, the American administration that governed Iraq after the war, should continue in office while appointed Iraqi leaders drafted a constitution and then held elections to choose a new government. As proposed by the Americans, Iraq would have been sovereign only when the elected government took office.
"This plan met with the disapproval of the Iraqis," Mr. Bush said. "They made it clear that they wanted a constitution that was written by elected leaders of a free Iraq, and they wanted sovereignty placed in Iraqi hands sooner. We listened, and we adjusted our approach."

ADJUST THIS The administration has adjusted many things in Iraq, its approach to what was first sold as a cakewalk changing as it creates new illusions about reality.  The only time Bush actually utters the word mistake is in seeking to blur the story of Iraq with the American story of independence.

Our founders faced many difficult challenges -- they made mistakes, they learned from their experiences, and they adjusted their approach.

THE DIFFERENCE here is clear if unstated.  The Founders made their mistakes in our own country, while Bush can only admit adjustments in a country not our own.  Bumiller blurs for Bush.  The text below an acompanying photo in the Times article reads: President Bush today compared the violence surrounding a democratic transition in Iraq to the early years of the United States’ tumultuous democracy.  Whether unanalyzed statements are neutral reporting or propagation of the party line propaganda is an open question.

SPONTANEOUS (APPLAUSE AND LAUGHTER) or is it (laughter and applause) update?  Bush got no laughs and only the slightest applause when he spoke and took no questions at the Council on Foreign Relations speech.  The Heretik has no doubt that this is now recognized as something a mistake that needed adjustment improvement.
 
SO BUSH TOOK "questions," but not a lot of heat.  He appreciates taking questions, particularly ones that are friendly.  The focus thus far has been on Bush’s response to the first question where he acknowledges  casualties on both sides.  Message: concerned, in touch.  But no mention of the soldier shipped home as freight.  Bush said he appreciates that in response to the first two questions.

THE SECOND QUESTION should be for the press. Why is no one picking up on this odd bit?

THE PRESIDENT: I'll repeat the question. If I don't like it, I'll make it up. (Laughter and applause.)
Q -- Thank you for coming to the city where liberty was born. Central to your policy in Iraq is the role of the Iraqis. We hear widely different tales about how the Iraqis are doing in their own area of defense. Could you give us your perspective on how they're doing, how well the military is doing, what you feel the capability is to do the task that you want them to do, to include some of the widely different impressions that we hear about.

BUSH WENT ON for paragraphs in the answer to this "question."  Most importantly, he appreciates that, unspecified.

THE PRESIDENT: No, I appreciate that. . . .

THE MOST QUOTED LINE from yesterday’s “speech” took place during this question and answer “spontaneous” interplay where the White House risked Bush mauling syntax and meaning to get out the message that we mean it, we really do.  The message is we can only defeat ourselves in Iraq

The enemy has got one weapon. See, they can't defeat us militarily. What they can do is they can -- and will -- kill innocent people in the hopes of trying to get the United States of America to leave the battlefield early. The only way we can lose is if we lose our nerve. And they know that. And they've stated that publicly.

THEY HAVE STATED nothing of the sort. George Bush is more honest than his critics would admit. In Iraq today, when reality confronts his illusions, he stated the Bush Doctrine again: If I don't like it, I'll make it up.

Comments

[Roxanne]

Is that illustration Bush as Queen Elizabeth I?

[Floyd Vaughn]

I have'nt heard much from the so called "Liberal Media" on the way they treat our heros who have died in Iraq,I have a link from my page also and as far as the President answering questions he only says or hears what he wants. I think taht the reason the press is'nt running with the treatment of our dead service men & women,is because if you notice they are to concerned about Mr.Bush's poll numbers,I guess they feel this is more important,but I for one think the leaders should hang thier heads in shame.