W encourages murderous Iraqis
George W. Bush today, the most powerful man in the world, directly addressed Iraqis who are sniping and firing grenades at American troops: “bring them on”, he taunted, according to this NYT story. As noted in my Boston-Alaska-Baja-Boston 2002 trip report, this seems like a bad idea. What better way to make a guy with an AK-47 feel important than by challenging him through a televised speech?
And surely American boys will die as a result of this speech. It sounds like W. mano a mano with a young Muslim. But having been a passenger on an airplane that makes a carrier landing does not make our President into a front-line soldier. It will be some kid from North Carolina that gets killed.
It wouldn’t bother me to hear that an American foot soldier in Iraq was challenging the local ruffians. But to hear a guy sitting at a desk 6000 miles away doing it? Why aren’t military families objecting to this?
Will a day come when we Americans can hear our leader talking about something other than kicking Third Worlders around? Something that would result in technological innovation and economic growth?
Full post, including comments