January 5, 2006


Continuing his PR offensive on the war, George Bush today "reached beyond his inner circle" (in the words of The New York Times) and pretended to care about the opinion of other people on the subject of the war in Iraq. Cindy Sheehan? Sorry, no. Medea Benjamin? Brian Becker? Anyone outside the establishment, or even inside the establishment but who disagrees fundamentally with what the U.S. is doing in Iraq? Sorry, no again.

What we got for this PR show was a dozen former Secretaries of State and War "Defense". Why, for real diversity, the news is proudly reporting there were even some Democrats. You know, people like Robert McNamara, the guy who helped plan the firebombing deaths of hundreds of thousands of Japanese, and whose "success" in guiding the American war effort in Vietnam has only recently been surpassed by the current occupant of the offense, "Donsense" Rumsfeld. And let's not forget Madeleine Albright, the woman who thinks the death of a million Iraqis as a result of the sanctions she helped impose was "worth it."

Of course we an imagine the "suggestions" of the crowd that Bush assembled probably went along lines such as, "I think you've got too many ground forces in Ramadi and aren't doing enough bombing from the air." Indeed, the principle aspect of the "advice" spotlighted by the press was the advice that Bush should "speak more" (or "level more") with the American people in order to get their support. Yeah, it's all about us.

How important were these prestigious people gathered around Bush as props? So important that when the met the public, none of them was given a chance to speak, only Bush (we use the word "speak" loosely here; "blather" might be a more appropriate term).