August 18, 2006--Fanaticism XLVI--Bush to War Cabinet: "I'm Frustrated"
According to the NY Times, at a recent meeting with his War Cabinet in Washington (not Crawford), President Bush said he was “frustrated” that the new Iraqi government “and the Iraqi people” had not shown greater public support for “the American mission.” (See article linked below.) He was especially vexed that hundreds of thousands of Iraqi citizens had flooded the streets of Baghdad to support the Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon, chanting as they marched, “Death to America.”
After all we have done for them--overthrowing Saddam, bringing “democracy” to their country--the President told the group that he did not understand why so many would take to the streets and participate in an anti-American rally.
Apparently no one who attended the meeting said anything to help him understand.
If I had been there I would have mentioned a couple of things that might have been helpful:
First, I would have recommended, stop referring to what we are up to in Iraq as “the American mission.” I don’t think the notion of mission goes down very well with Moslems who are still smarting about the Christian Crusades, even though the last one ended in 1291, a scant 715 years ago.
Then I would have pointed out that just the day before the War Cabinet meeting the President interrupted his brush-cutting vacation to return to the Oval Office to sign a law that transfers a 29-foot-tall cross to the federal government. Ignoring issues of church and state, he used the government’s power of eminent domain to transfer the San Diego land on which the cross is erected to US ownership, attempting to preempt a 17-year-long lawsuit that claims it is unconstitutional for such an overtly religious symbol to be situated on public land. Bush and the law he signed claim that the cross overlooks a war memorial and thus does not violate the US Constitution. (Times article below.)
If our President wants to understand why Iraqis and others are angry and frustrated with us, he only needs to understand the connection between his seeing our invasion and occupation in mission terms and his pandering to Christian zealots in the US.
He may not see that connection, but the rest of the world does.
After all we have done for them--overthrowing Saddam, bringing “democracy” to their country--the President told the group that he did not understand why so many would take to the streets and participate in an anti-American rally.
Apparently no one who attended the meeting said anything to help him understand.
If I had been there I would have mentioned a couple of things that might have been helpful:
First, I would have recommended, stop referring to what we are up to in Iraq as “the American mission.” I don’t think the notion of mission goes down very well with Moslems who are still smarting about the Christian Crusades, even though the last one ended in 1291, a scant 715 years ago.
Then I would have pointed out that just the day before the War Cabinet meeting the President interrupted his brush-cutting vacation to return to the Oval Office to sign a law that transfers a 29-foot-tall cross to the federal government. Ignoring issues of church and state, he used the government’s power of eminent domain to transfer the San Diego land on which the cross is erected to US ownership, attempting to preempt a 17-year-long lawsuit that claims it is unconstitutional for such an overtly religious symbol to be situated on public land. Bush and the law he signed claim that the cross overlooks a war memorial and thus does not violate the US Constitution. (Times article below.)
If our President wants to understand why Iraqis and others are angry and frustrated with us, he only needs to understand the connection between his seeing our invasion and occupation in mission terms and his pandering to Christian zealots in the US.
He may not see that connection, but the rest of the world does.
posted by Steven Zwerling at
11:19 AM
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