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Bush still “spinning us to death” in Iraq

by Eric

President Bush has marked the 5-year anniversary of the Iraq War with a speech that argues the ordeal was “worth it”. From the Huffington Post (by way of the AP):

President Bush says he has no doubts about launching the unpopular war in Iraq despite the “high cost in lives and treasure,” arguing that retreat now would embolden Iran and provide al-Qaida with money for weapons of mass destruction to attack the United States. “War critics can no longer credibly argue that we are losing in Iraq, so now they argue the war costs too much. In recent months, we have heard exaggerated estimates of the costs of this war.”

This guy’s like that Energizer bunny, albeit one armed to the teeth - he just keeps going, ducking fuzzy math, public outrage, thousands wounded and (possibly) one million dead, and economic devastation that we’ll feel for generations.

On the other if you’re interested in going beyond Bush fantasies and prefer an honest assessment of Iraq’s situation and possible future you might be interested in what Patrick Cockburn has to say. Cockburn’s been in Iraq many times and for many years covering the area for The Independent. He’s often done so as an “un-embeded” reporter and thus offers a rare picture of things firsthand:

So keen are the authorities to show that overall violence is down that many deaths are no longer recorded. “I think the real figure for the number of people being killed is about twice what the government says it is,” said one local politician…Baghdad is ‘better’ than it was, but the improvement is only in comparison to the bloodbath of 2006 when 3,000 people were being killed every month…
Suddenly there is a perception in the US that ‘things are getting better in Iraq’, though they are better only in terms of the mass killings of 2006.

In the struggle over who will hold power in Iraq in the future nothing is decided and fighting, just as ferocious as anything we have seen in the past, could erupt at any moment.

You can hear forty-two minute’s with this unbelievably brave guy over at NPR’s Fresh Air. Check it out.

Look, I’m not trying to bring “bad news” out of some need to “see us fail” over there. What I do want is an honest understanding of the situation and you will not get that from the corporate media which continues to spin us to death on this war. Rather than pretend things are going swimmingly we need a clear picture that gets us the hell out of the place.

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March 19, 2008   |  Filed Under Political   |    Permalink

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