The Scoop: President must thirst for blood
Our beloved president is showing a distinct lack of good judgment when it comes to military action. While the rest of the world is saying war with Iraq doesn’t make sense, President Bush is leading the charge.
While more and more Americans are expressing anti-war sentiments, Bush is expressing frustration we’re not ready to take aim and fire. While people have plainly pointed out Iraq has attacked no country — and it would be the United States starting an unprovoked war — Bush insists on being the aggressor.
France was the latest country to openly question the need for a war with Iraq, joining other leading United Nation powers such as Germany and China. This week the French went so far as to say they not only oppose war with Iraq, they will openly try to persuade other countries to also oppose U.S. military action.
I can just hear the Oval Office conversation between President Bush and Vice President Cheney now:
Bush: “What’s with those French? Don’t they want to kill a few Iraqis?”
Cheney: “Maybe we should send them a few more of our violent video games.”
Bush: “I mean c’mon. Iraq won’t put up much of a fight. We can blow up buildings, kill some soldiers, and apologize for the innocent civilians who get murdered in the process. We’ve got all these weapons just sitting around. Makes sense to use them.”
Cheney: “Think that double cheeseburger was bad for my heart? I think I might be getting chest pains.”
Bush: “Snap out of it, Dick. Forget about your ticker for a minute. We’re talking about Saddam Hussein. He’s got oil. And you know how foolish he made my dad look.”
Cheney: “Not any worse than bin Laden made you look.”
Bush: “Read my lips, Dick. I want to start a war and I want to kill.”
Simply put, there’s no reason to go to war with Iraq. More and more countries are realizing this and recent surveys show an overwhelming majority of Americans feel the same way.
I’m proud to say I’m one of those Americans. To me, Bush is acting like nothing more than a terrorist himself wanting to attack a country which hasn’t attack us or our allies.
Bush says war with Iraq is necessary “in the name of peace.” Bush says Iraq’s reluctance to completely disarm is “a rerun of a bad movie, and I’m not interested in watching it.”
Truth be told, I don’t see why Iraq should be made to disarm. Considering the United States bombed Iraq over 40 times last year, I can see its reluctance. Considering the U.S. recently flew over Iraq and dropped thousands of pamphlets denouncing Saddam Hussein, I can see how there might be a little animosity.
For the sake of argument, let’s put the proverbial shoe on the other foot. Let’s say another country had bombed sites in the United States over 40 times last year. Would we have bad feelings toward that country? Would it be hatred?
Continuing that same argument, how would we feel about another country flying over our major cities and dropping pamphlets that ripped President Bush. Granted, many of us may agree, but we would stick by our president because we’re Americans and we’re all in this together.
Then how would we feel if that same country told us we couldn’t build certain weapons? We could only build the weapons this country deemed acceptable.
It’s this sort of behavior which has more and more countries questioning U.S. motives for waging war with Iraq. We wouldn’t have to worry about policing the globe, and worry about so many countries hating us, if we would simply mind our own business.
(James Clark is editor of the Standard. He can be reached at 473-2191 or by e-mail at [email protected].)