Among the many, many things that George Bush has done and the attitudes he holds that absolutely confound me is this one. He continually says and/of infers that the “war on terrorism” is biggest thing that this country has ever faced. It is mandatory for the future of this nation that we win this “war”, and win it in his way. Everything else seems to take a back seat, when this “war on terror” is the subject.
However, when it comes to actually fighting this war and giving the military the tools it needs, things suddenly change. On the civilian side of things, we are never asked to sacrifice anything. We are not told to hold back on gas purchases. We are not told to ration any scarce product. In fact, we are told the best thing that we can do is “go shopping”. Any talk of raising taxes to help with the war effort, to Bush, is an anathema. That is just unthinkable to him, and he apparently doesn’t see any problem, for the first time in this country’s history, with cutting taxes and unlimited spending for two simultaneous wars.
Additionally, it is quite obvious to everyone that this volunteer force that we have today is being ground down. Deployments keep getting increased, time away from the conflicts keep getting cut. It is shameful to have people getting killed on their third deployment into Iraq. Yet, once again, Bush sees nothing wrong with the approach he is adopting, and continually adds more and more stress to our already stressed out military. Reinstating the draft cannot even be mentioned, much less debated with any integrity. Personally, I would be against this move, but politically, I cannot help but be angry about Bush’s dependence upon someone else’s children, husbands, wives, brothers and sisters going off to fight his war for him, on his terms.
I am sorry, but these are not the actions of a rational person. Bush will not accept any criticism, whatsoever, of how he has bungled his war of convenience. This has gone way past ineptitude. We are now into the realm of the psychological, and perhaps even the pathological. The harm that this man, along with the rest of his administration of enablers and manipulators, is doing to this country may end up being irreparable. To see him at a press conference, essentially blaming Congress (now that Congress is in the hands of the Democrats) for everything from not funding his war his way or not giving unfettered ability to spy on anyone he desires without any oversight other than that provided by his own administration is maddening.
Perhaps the most upsetting thing to me about Bush’s attitude is a small thing, in the context of everything else that this man has done to this country. There will be no “reckoning” down the road for George W. Bush. His continual smirk tells you that this is a man who will never experience that “Come To God” moment. There will not be a moment where the scales fall from his eyes and he sees, for the first time, what he has truly wrought. No, this is a person who will go to his grave surrounded by his small group of confidants and supporters who will tell him, along with his conscience, that he was right and everyone else was wrong. He will never suffer because of his decisions. Suffering is the duty of someone else. I find that infuriating.
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