Bush, Iraq and Hell

"Tramp, tramp, tramp, they go, boys who will never be men, rejoicing patriotically in the nation that has thus sent them forth, badly armed, badly clothed, badly led, to be killed in some avoidable quarrel by men unseen." H.G. Wells
Anticipations 1902


Among the many consequences of the prisoner abuse scandal is that it tarnishes the reputation and pride of the American military. This probably was a factor in several high-ranking military officers going public with their dissent on how the war in Iraq is being handled. The Washington Post story can be found here. Now it's U.S. Army generals likening Iraq to Vietnam: tactical victories, strategic defeat and quagmire.

The responsibility for this war belongs to the Bush administration, not only in their willful ignorance and megalomania but in suppressing advice that was contrary to their fantasy. Nobody is immune to their viciousness: not a U.S. general who told them their occupation plans were unrealistic, any more than a CIA agent undercover who herself said nothing at all, or their record of questioning the patriotism of veterans who lost limbs (Max Cleland) or who were POWs (John McCain.)

As for the prisoner abuse itself, the Red Cross reports and internal Pentagon reports done many months ago show that the abuses were widespread and authorized. No one yet knows how far up the chain of command the authorizations for specific abuse policies go, but it's clear how far up the attitude goes that made them all but inevitable: to the very top, to George W. Bush.

Just today's example: in his address to military personnel he commends soldiers in Iraq who are kind and fair to "innocent Iraqis", referring to those met outside the prisons. For one-dimensional Bushies, capture and incarceration equals guilt, equals terrorist. Yet military officials themselves say that 70% to 90% of detainees in Iraq were incarcerated by mistake. Here's the story from the Financial Times of London.

The relationship of Iraq and terrorism to American Cold War policy in Iraq is summarized with stunning clarity in a new book by Mahmood Mamdani, "Good Muslim, Bad Muslim," which is described in a San Francisco Chronicle review we highly recommend.

As for Bush the great leader, yes, he is decisive. He is decisively leading America into the pits of hell.