FWIW - The Naked Truth

Sorry, but we teased you a little with the title. Sorry, no naked ladies here. (Actually, that was a tiny reference to my other website) Seriously, this was more of a reference to “the emperor has no clothes”.
And, in this case, the emperor is George W Bush. One has to wonder about the Chief Executive’s grip on reality. He (‘Dubya’) said it himself, “We took a thumpin’…”, referring to the November 7th elections. The Democratic Party took back control of both houses of Congress, twelve years after the Republicans drove them from the hill. In general, those Republicans who got their walking papers were supporters of the President’s Iraq policy (ok, alleged policy). To be fair, there were indeed other factors, such as corruption. Even there, one has to admire the Republican Party. The Democrats took 40 years to get to the level of corruption and influence peddling that the Republicans achieved in only 12. Other issues like Katrina and a do-nothing 109th Congress were major factors. Yet, above all, antipathy toward an administration that continually promised ‘victory…just around the corner’ then failed to deliver anything but worsening trends in a deteriorating state of civil war within Iraq sealed the fate of Republicans who tied themselves to the administration.
So, Wednesday, January 10th, the President addresses the nation on a supposed change of course on the war in Iraq. Of course, the administration had been hyping a ‘surge’ tactic almost before the ink on the Iraq Study Group report had dried.
Apparently the President didn’t get the message that the American people sent loud and clear on November. MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann observed that instead of redeploying out of Iraq, Mr. Bush appears to be trying to get this country primed for a military strike against Iran!
As of tonight, 50 out of 51 Democrats and eight Republicans in the Senate stand ready to deny the President funds for further escalation of the Iraq war.
One has to wonder if the President realizes just how close he is bringing this country to the point of all-out war in the Middle East. It is an interesting parallel to note that in Dubya’s youth, he was famous for “bringing in” so-called ‘dry holes’; that is, as an oil driller (a ‘wildcatter’ is the Texas term), he never brought in a producing oil well. Of course, it was other people’s money that was lost, not his own. If his last name had not been Bush, it would have been interesting to see how many wells he would have drilled; we believe very few.
In Iraq, likewise, this one man has ultimate responsibility for the deaths of more than 3,000 of our nation’s best and brightest. They’re not his own children, of course, and we have to wonder just how sincere this man is as he attempts to justify sending another 22,000 young people into a Viet Nam-type quagmire.
Don’t you agree that this emperor truly has no clothes? How can this one man callously disregard the sense of the American people that this is a lost cause, and that all we have done is to kick over a hornet’s nest for the sake of one man’s ego?
You should be getting angry, as I am. You should be writing to your Senators and Representatives demanding that this insanity end; that this country should take steps to regain respect before the rest of the civilized world and admit to stupidity, fear and arrogance in bringing this horrendous state of affairs into being. And then, we should seek the honorable way of removing our troops in such a manner as to allow the people of Iraq to sort out their own national goals, whatever they may be.
Dare we even hope for such a resolution? Are we enough of an honorable people to ask forgiveness of the Iraqis for all of the death and destruction we have caused?
Truly, the emperor has no clothes. And, apparently, no shame, either.

On a personal note:
We sadly note the passing of one person whom we were blessed to have met years ago. Dr. Henry Chamfield passed into rest Wednesday. I was one who was fortunate to have learned so much about the Jewish people from Henry. A true “mensch”, a genuinely righteous person, I am so much richer for having met him. Shalom, Henry.

Today is January 11th, 740 days left until the end of the Bush Administration.

Tomorrow: Thank you for the music!