A Problem with Bush's Photo Op
It's important for the president to visit the troops. It's also important to be real. Ron Martz of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution explains what happened on a visit to George:
It's bad enough that Bush's people insist on a hand-picked audience. Bush might have waited to make his speech in Fort Irwin, however, where the soldiers will be that are going to Iraq. Come to think of it, perhaps Bush can also go to Afghanistan and explain to the troops there why he's sending some of them to Iraq instead of allowing them to finish a job that should have been finished five years ago if Bush hadn't started his war in Iraq, a war that was not necessary and that was based on a fraudelent case of deliberately distorted intelligence.
Bush has never apologized for deceiving the American people. We now know that Iraq was not even close to being an imminent threat. Both Bush and Cheney need to be held accountable. There may not be enough votes in the Senate to convict Bush and Cheney but there is no doubt in my mind that they committed impeachable offenses. And their reckless disregard for the law may not be finished. These are troubled times.
The day after President Bush outlined his new plan for Iraq to a national television audience, he came to this Army training base in southwest Georgia to pitch it to the soldiers who will have to implement it on the battlefield and to their families.
"Everywhere that warriors from this base serve, you leave your mark, and I believe it will be a legacy of hope and freedom and peace," Bush told an audience of 210 soldiers and 90 civilian family members Thursday in his first visit here as president.
Bush spoke to the handpicked group after a lunch of turkey club sandwiches in a makeshift cafeteria set up in the reception area of Lawson Army Airfield, where troops leave for and return from Iraq.
About 4,000 soldiers from the 3rd Brigade Combat Team of the 3rd Infantry Division based here are scheduled to go to Iraq soon. For some, it will be their third tour in the war zone.
(snip)
No 3rd Brigade soldiers were in attendance for the lunch or the speech, base officials said, because they are preparing to leave this weekend for a month of desert training at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif.
It's bad enough that Bush's people insist on a hand-picked audience. Bush might have waited to make his speech in Fort Irwin, however, where the soldiers will be that are going to Iraq. Come to think of it, perhaps Bush can also go to Afghanistan and explain to the troops there why he's sending some of them to Iraq instead of allowing them to finish a job that should have been finished five years ago if Bush hadn't started his war in Iraq, a war that was not necessary and that was based on a fraudelent case of deliberately distorted intelligence.
Bush has never apologized for deceiving the American people. We now know that Iraq was not even close to being an imminent threat. Both Bush and Cheney need to be held accountable. There may not be enough votes in the Senate to convict Bush and Cheney but there is no doubt in my mind that they committed impeachable offenses. And their reckless disregard for the law may not be finished. These are troubled times.
Labels: Bush, impeachment, Iraq
posted by Craig at 5:05 PM
1 Comments:
I saw a clip of Bush going through the cafeteria on (I think) "PBS News Hour" this evening. He stopped here and there, exchanged nods and shook a couple of hands. Some of the troops looked a little embarrassed, others nonplussed. Quite a few ate their food and basically ignored him.
Time to kick the handpicking rules up a notch, it would seem.
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