Leveling with the American People - will he or won't he?

radfringe

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Sat Jun-25-05 12:25 PM
Original message

Leveling with the American People - will he or won't he?

On Tuesday June 21, 2005, Senator Joseph Biden (D-MD) spoke before the Brookings Institute on issues surrounding the Iraq War. He called upon President Bush to "level with the American People". This Tuesday (June 28, 2005), with Fort Bragg, North Carolina as a back drop, President Bush is scheduled to appear during prime time and attempt to "level with the American People".

While I applaud Senator Biden's appeal to President Bush to "level with the American People" - I fear such leveling will be more spinning - beginning with the site of the prime time speech. Why Fort Bragg as a backdrop and not the East Room, the Rose Garden or the Oval office in the White House? It's a sure bet that cameras will be focusing on the "audience" of clapping and cheering Service men and women who are stationed at Fort Bragg. Who would then dare to criticize the President speech since doing so will surely result in being accused of not supporting the troops?

The date is also interesting - 3 days before the 4th of July Holiday, and on the heels of the House passage of the Flag Burning Amendment.

We will hear how the insurgents are in their last throes. I expect those words to have been carefully cut/paste and edited from last years statements which said the increase in insurgent activity were are sign of desperation. A time table for withdrawal - absurd. Exit plans - ridiculous. The remainder of the speech will be a meticulously woven web of spin.

What we won't hear is any "leveling with the American People".

We won't hear why President Bush ignored a briefing report entitled "Bin-Laden determined to Strike US".

We won't hear why there were "no plans" on Bush's desk to invade Iraq when the Downing Street memo indicates Bush was determined to strike Iraq months before the "product was rolled out".

We won't hear any leveling about fixing facts to fit an invasion scenario.

There will be no leveling regarding why no Weapons of Mass Destruction have been found in Iraq - despite the assertion by Secretary Rumsfeld that he knew exactly where the weapons were being stored.

There will be no accounting for the billions of dollars being given to Halliburton and it's subsidiaries under no-bid contracts, nor why they continue to be awarded contracts while being "investigated" for overcharges and other financial problems.

During the 2000 Presidential Debate between Bush and Gore - Bush stated he would give clear mission statements, with clear timelines and exit plans should the occasion arise where it was necessary to send in our troops. That was then, this is now - so don't expect to hear any clear mission statements, clear timelines, or any exit plans. There will be a cleverly worded (and hopefully not flubbed) statements saying such a thing as a time line or exit plan will result with the insurgents just waiting us out.

If you are hoping for some sign of Bush to take responsibility - forget it. Karl Rove and Dick Cheney have already lined up the Sunday talk shows and with scripts in hand they will be blaming "liberals", Democrats et al for Bush's low approval numbers. The pesky fact that Iraq is Bush's war doesn't mean a thing. That over 1,700 service men and women have died in Bush's war doesn't influence the polls at all. It's all them damn liberals and Democrats fault. So much for being a uniter.

To Senator Biden, I say, "Leveling with the American People is foreign to Bush. Leveling with the American People is one of his unknown unknowns. One speech is too little too late to undo 3 years and 3 months of manipulation of facts, spinning of the news and bald-faced lies surrounding the real reasons behind Invading Iraq."