Charley Reese:Baghdad George

[jbfam4]

Like his explanation of "They hate us for our Freedom,"

Baghdad George
by Charley Reese
November 7, 2003
http://www.antiwar.com/reese/reese1.html


I guess it was inevitable. Someone has compared President George Bush to "Baghdad Bob." This came after the president's latest press conference, when he said attacks were increasing in Iraq because the occupation was so successful. In other words, the situation is worse because the situation is better. The more successful we are, the more Americans and Iraqis will die from bombs and ambushes. It was Bill Press, the other half of the TV show with Pat Buchanan, who came up with that wisecrack.

The president's handlers are wise to keep him away from news conferences. He doesn't handle them well. At this one, you could see from his facial expression that he was not happy to be there. He was, as most politicians are, defensive and evasive. He absolutely refuses to acknowledge that the people attacking Americans in Iraq are anyone but Saddam loyalists and foreign terrorists. Actually, most of them are probably just Iraqis who resent foreign occupation and the bad behavior of some American troops.


And, of course, the president made no mention whatsoever of weapons of mass destruction. During the marketing campaign for the war, he hardly opened his mouth without talking about weapons of mass destruction. He refuses to acknowledge that he made a mistake when he said major combat was over last May. That's what irritates me most about politicians. They're human. They can make mistakes. Why not say so?


He keeps repeating that canard that "terrorists hate freedom." Nonsense. There is no terrorist in the world who is a terrorist because he hates freedom. By far, the majority of terrorists are fighting for freedom of some group that doesn't have it. In the case of Iraq, it is freedom from American occupation; with the Irish Republican Army, it was freedom from British rule; with the Palestinians, freedom from Israeli occupation; and so forth. It is absurd to suppose that a human being sitting around suddenly stands up and says: "You know, I hate freedom. I think I'll go blow myself up."

[Mokito]

1. He's soft on *,

but still a good article with lots of stings.