When President Bush spoke before the national convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars on Aug. 22, he acknowledged the human toll of the Iraq War in blunt numerical terms -- something he had not done previously.
According to a
story in the Aug. 23
Washington Post, the acknowledgment
was made to deflect criticism that he has not been sensitive to the human sacrifice created by his policies.
The acknowledgement that the U.S. had "lost 1,864 members of our armed forces in Operation Iraqi Freedom, and 223 in Operation Enduring Freedom," in Afghanistan, also came on the heels of national attention for Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a U.S. soldier killed in Iraq, who has camped outside the "Western White House" in Crawford, Texas, and helped galvanize the anti-war movement.
Bush's aides told the
Post that they have no illusion about quieting the demonstrators in Crawford, but they said the address was aimed at convincing a "broader audience in the country" that "this president recognizes the hardship of war and the sacrifices that are being made," as one senior official put it.
Bush's critics often point out that he has not attended a funeral for any soldier who has fallen in Iraq, and his speeches seldom address specific tragedies that are in the news on a particular day.
***
The question remains whether Bush actually understands the human toll, or is merely accepting the political decision to acknowledge it. Is this from the heart, or is this just reading a speech designed for political calculation?
It's hard to tell from an administration so masterful in the art of spin. But either way, for those looking for progress from the administration, the president discussing the blunt numbers is "
good news."
***
This article first appeared at
Journalists Against Bush's B.S.
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