That was the headline that greeted me this morning as I opened up the Toledo Blade. Not only that, but the photo of the nincompoop himself. It was a friendly group, of course, because he never speaks to any group that hasn't been vetted. No criticisms permitted.
The Blade article began:
DAYTON — President Bush said the Iraq war surge is putting the United States within grasp of a “strategic victory” in Iraq and criticized those who advocate retreat in a speech yesterday at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.He said the war has been criticized at each step for political and military failures, and “no matter what shortcomings these critics diagnose, their prescription is always the same — retreat.”
Retreat. That's one of those loaded words my English teachers used to warn me about using. Seems his speech writers have an entire set of these words they like to slip into the text. 'Surrender' is another one, usurped these days by John McCain. 'Terrorist' has to have been the greatest boon for the Bush administration; they have dropped that bomb often. 'Freedom has been hijacked by these boys as well and they used to have a copyright on the word 'Patriotism.'
The audience was uniformed military who, of course, sat on their hands and kept their mouths shut. But, don't you just wonder what they were thinking? Here is a guy who duped their fellow service men and women into a needless war that has gone on for 5 straight years with no end in sight. Four thousand of their fellow service men and women are dead; 30,000 severely injured, many with disfigurement and amputations. And he's telling them that there will be no retreat.
Does Mr. Bush really believe that this audience believes all of the bullshit coming from this man? I think he does. Luckily over 70% of the citizens have finally caught on to this charlatan and con artist.
Oh, one more thing: here is a headline from the British Times on Line: Iraqi police in Basra shed their uniforms, kept their rifles and switched sides.
Retreat?
