Bush Says War Opponents Just "Want Us to Win," Claims Left "Propagandizes"

In an interview yesterday with a Fox News lackey, President Bush claimed that the majority of the country opposes the War in Iraq "because they want us to win." He added that the insurgents and/or freedom fighters are smart and cunning, that "they know we are a conscience-driven people that value life." Our opponents know that the more people they kill, the more likely it is that we will want to leave. The Commander-in-Chief added that Osama bin Laden predicted that America would turn to being against the war, which clearly means to any logic-oriented person that Osama bin Laden is a Democrat.

For a complete transcript of the interview, bite the bullet and check out the Fox News Website. Even though what was said is vitally important to understanding the thought process of the leader of our country, Fox News maintains a copyright on their material that I have tried to respect under current law.

Of course, the actual polls to which the interviewer refers do not word themselves as being "for" or "against" the war; such simplistic terminology is best for those who think in fair and balanced terms. No, the actual poll question being currently asked is "was it a mistake to send troops into Iraq," to which 60% of Americans agree it was. Unspinning Bush's answer, it seems to be most Americans now think the war was a mistake because it wasn't won in the way they thought it would be. Perhaps someone lied to them and told them it would be over in a few months, or maybe even announced "mission, accomplished."

But these rhetorical trifles aside, the interviewer was determined to get to the bottom of why the American people now think that the War in Iraq is a waste of precious human life and financial resources. Instead of asking the hard-hitting, no-nonsense, no-spin journalistic question of "What exactly is your plan to win the war?" the interviewer instead asked our Commander how he feels about the left-wing media.

"I'm disappointed that people would propagandize to that effect," Bush replied, meaning our President now thinks reporting casualties and damage in an effort involving American soldiers is propaganda. The interviewer again missed an opportunity to ask balanced, no-spin, hard-hitting questions about such phrases as "mission accomplished," "clean skies," "healthy forests," "grave danger to America," "significant connection to Al-Qaida," "no child left behind," "fair and balanced," "spreading freedom throughout the world," and countless other oft-used phrases.

In other words, our Commander-in-Chief thinks reporting casualty totals and asking if our government has a strategy constitutes propaganda, but we may never know how he feels about lines such as "Iraq has weapons of mass destruction" and "we don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud." Propaganda or no? I just reported, now YOU decide!

WIth all this questioning of the President's strategy and his clear desire not to speak about it when given a clear opportunity, we must ask ourselves what exactly is the Bush plan for Iraq?

For starters, our military, by all accounts, is forging ahead with plans to build 14 "enduring" bases in Iraq as granted by early 2005 legislation. Many outside political analysts believe that the neoconservative bent in our higher civilian military offices at present sees permanent outposts in the Middle East this generation's equivalent to having permanent bases in Germany and Iceland during the Cold War. The difference? The Middle East isn't so cold!

In other news, the Army Chief announced on Friday that troop levels in Iraq will remain at a constant 140,000 up through 2010.

That's the plan for victory. There is a strategy, but no part of the Bush plan involves leaving, and if the American people were defining "victory" on the terms of actually winning a war and leaving the country to rule its democratic self, than maybe that 60% is on to something. In fact, if a majority of the country believes we need to leave an area, and we have top officials in the our military and our British military allies saying the same thing, why are we implanting ourselves even more while remaining quiet about it?

Why these points were not addressed in the interview is beyond me. I guess the interviewer was more intent on blasting the media for reporting casualties and setbacks and trying to inform our democratic consciousness than he was on trying to expose what the Bush plan is and why Americans are unhappy with that particular strategy.