It’s been such a busy week for poor old President Bush! This week, this guy– whose handsome salary and lavish upkeep I am of course contributing to– had to take time out from his current 5-week vacation to do the following:
- — go and give a couple of speeches justifying his Iraq “policy” in other (but very scenic) parts of the country than Crawford, Texas
— Thursday night he had to pick up the phone and shmooze with Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim, the head of Iraq’s SCIRI party (the Iran-backed party that’s been aggressively pushing for the creation of a large, separate “Shia-stan” in southern Iraq… H’mmm, can you imagine how that little conversation went?)
— today, he delivered a radio address, doubtless painstakingly drafted by himself (irony alert!), in which he told the waiting public that,
“the people of Iraq are … making the tough choices and compromises necessary for a free and peaceful future… Like our own nation’s founders over two centuries ago, the Iraqis are grappling with difficult issues, such as the role of the federal government. What is important is that Iraqis are now addressing these issues through debate and discussion — not at the barrel of a gun… “
Oh, how great to learn that the Iraqis aren’t using violence in the course of their current constitutional discussions. But I just wonder where our friends from Today in Iraq got all those reports of “36 executed Iraqis discovered near Badrah… 40 Iraqis, one American killed in Baghdad fighting…” ??
And that was just on their Friday post. Scroll on down to read more about the ongoing massacres and horrors that have accompanied this grotesquely mishandled “Constitution-writing” exercise throughout the past few weeks.
Bush had to engage in all this recent flurry of activity, of course, mainly because that heroic woman Cindy Sheehan had shamed him into pretending to “do something” that might be relevant to the rapidly deteriorating situation inside Iraq. His first response to her had been to stress his need to carry on recreating, and to swagger on about how good he has become at his new sport of mountain-biking… That didn’t totally work. So then he started making some speeches…
Bike-blogger Cannonball meanwhile gave us all a good first evaluation of the Prez’s much-vaunted expertise at mountain-biking here.
Then on Wednesday, Cannonball let rip with a great critique of the deeper question at hand:
- But let’s set aside for the time-being, the question of whether or not Bush is a kick-ass mountain biker. Instead, let’s examine the question of whether he should be a kick-ass mountain biker or runner or scrapbooker or Trivial Pursuit player or whatever; whether his body should show absolutely no signs at all of any kind of stress whatsoever; whether he should have several free hours a day to devote to his personal pursuits…
For Bush, the presidency is just a diversion, a day job that ought not interfere with his personal life. As he did in school, in the National Guard, and in his business career, Bush is content to put in the bare minimum of effort needed to get by. While Baghdad burns, the economy churns, and Rove and Rumsfeld worm, Bush is like a kid on summer break. Last week he had Lance Armstrong and a couple of buddies over for a bike ride and a swim in his pool. Though no reporters were allowed in, rumor is that after some Hot Pockets and Mountain Dews, they also played video games and watched R-rated movies…
Bush calls himself “Bicycle Guy” these days. Shouldn’t he be calling himself “President Guy”? It would be nice if he put the same amount of vigor and enthusiasm into presidenting as he does into mountain biking.
A president should be working 18-hour days, losing sleep, and showing visible signs of fatigue. I want the POTUS to look like he is working his ass off. But quite the contrary, Bush has made leisure time part of his governing style to the point of arrogance (actually, everything from Bush starts from the point of arrogance and gets worse from there).
Referring to Cindy Sheehan, Bush boasted, “I think it’s important for me to be thoughtful and sensitive to those who have got something to say, . . . but it’s also important for me to go on with my life, to keep a balanced life.”
The sad truth is, though, that GWB is far, far less successful at being a legitimate and credible “President Guy” than he is at being a “Bicycle Guy.” And the main people paying the price for that right now are the Iraqis. Where was I reading recently that in all the terrible heat of Baghdad, people are now getting 40 mins of electricity followed by a six-hour-long cut?
And of course, the security situation continues to be horrendous.
The most interesting news I’ve read recently was the Reuters report from yesterday that Muqtada Sadr had brought some 100,00 supporters out onto the streets in eight different Iraqi cities. That protest was nominally against the terrible state of public services in the country. But it also underlined that Moqtada is still a significant political force to be dealt with.
He has opposed the idea of establishing a separate, heavily decentralized Shia-stan that Hakim and SCIRI have been pushing for. Ayatollah Sistani is also thought strongly to oppose it. Moqtada Sadr and Sistani have also been very careful to try to keep their links with the country’s Sunnis in place.
So there is some very serious politics going on inside Iraq right now. It has almost nothing to do with the words on the piece of paper that Prez Bush feels he need– the “Constitution”– but has a lot to do with what the Iraqi people themselves want to see happen.
It is not a dispute that is cast along strict inter-sectarian or inter-ethnic lines.
It is, unfortunately, a dispute that will most likely continue to be pursued using violence as well as nonviolent organizing.
A huge question in all this is: what does the Iranian regime want? Who are they backing inside Iraq? Can we assume there is one “will” in Teheran that’s being played out inside Iraq right now– or should we assume there is jockeying between different factions in Iran over the Iraq question?
All these kinds of questions are far more important to the future prospects of the people of Iraq than the exact clauses within whatever Zal Khalilzad’s latest “Constitution” piece of paper happen to be… Yet do you think there is anyone at all in this extremely out-of-touch US government who would even know how to start answering and dealing with such questions?
Please, George: bring the US troops home before their presence in Iraq causes any more division and destruction there.
Who’s Next?
The US Army Recruiting Command has a motto: “First to contact, first to contract.” In the school recruiting handbook the Army gives to the 7,500 recruiters it has trawling the nation these days, the motto crops up so often it serves as a stuttering paean to aggressive new tactics–tactics that target increasingly younger students.
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20050912/houppert
Fully half of Americans now believe Bush purposefully lied to bring about the Iraq invasion/occupation.
57% believe the Iraq War was ‘Not Worth It’. And 42% believe if the President lied about the war he should be impeached!.
http://www.mediainfo.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001022496
What does the Iranian regime want?
They are Evil Helen,
The recent Talk in the street of Iraq that
IRAN WILL FIGHT AMERICAN WITH THE LAST IRAQI.
Alsader supporters burned in Hilla 38 Alhakem offices, also Alsader asked Alhakeem to hand over the group that Asader saw them playing/cutting his Body parts while is still alive in Najaf… look how savage these guys BADER We new them Every Iraqi new them they are….Killer gang all what the need the richness of Iraq go back to Tehran go and take the power there.
God save Iraq and Iraqis from Iranian and all the enemies
أقول للرئيس عندما تخوض حرباً أيها الرئيس “لا تعمل خطأ أبداً، ولا تُغيِّر طريقك، واصل السير فيه إلى النهاية، كل شيء حسن ورائع. مثلما قال إدوارد روبنسون في كتابه “تعويض مضاعف،” “ركبنا في حافلة حتى آخر نقطة توقّف لها، كانت البطاقة ذهاباً فقط، أما آخر موقف لها فهو المقبرة”.
Hi Helena,
Unlike Salah, I do not think all Iranians are evil. But the question you pose to your audience is an excellent one. I think I know where you can go to find a well informed answer.
—
The Department of Religious Studies
cordially invites
the University community
to a lecture by
Abdulaziz Sachedina
Ball Professor of Islamic Studies
at the University of Virginia
and
Visiting Fellow at Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran
on
The Recent Iranian Elections
and the Future of
Religious Democracy in Iran
Thursday
September 1st, 2005
4:00 pm to 5:30 pm
in
The Dome Room of the Rotunda
This lecture is free and open to the public
Seating is on a first come, first served basis
A brief reception will follow the lecture
—-
As you already know, Sachedina is currently in Iran working on two separate books. Unfortunately, I cannot attend this lecture because I am in South Korea. But hopefully you can attend, direct your question to him, and then relay back to me his response. And if you can, please give the professor my salaaams. Thanks.
Helena asks :
A huge question in all this is: what does the Iranian regime want? Who are they backing inside Iraq? Can we assume there is one “will” in Teheran that’s being played out inside Iraq right now– or should we assume there is jockeying between different factions in Iran over the Iraq question?
It’s very difficult to know when you are miles apart. I’ve read about one year ago that the Iranians were distributing money more or less to all the Shiites groups, Moktada Sadr included. But the US administration and behind it the US press are calling any social aid political support, and Iran meddling so..
Since then, both the Iranian and the Iraqi situation has changed. The new Iranian government seems to be much more conservative than the previous one. So it should be more unified in its action now, don’t you think so ? Suppose that the old guard of the ayatollahs are at the commands, so who would they want to support ? SCIRI comes to mind, because they were the most in line with the Iranian theocracy. But why would they want to support SCIRI only, if the Iraqis Shiites are bound to get a large majority and rule Iraq ? Why not also help the Dawa party ? The actual central government has already broken a deal with the Iranian concerning the oil industry and the construction of a pipeline and a big refinery in the South, so what other benefits could they draw of an independant South ? I’d say that if they made such a move as supporting Al Hakim and a large independant Sumer province, it can only be for one reason : they are very pessimistic concerning the future of Iraq, they foresee a civil war and a split of the different regions, so they want to make sure that their investment in the South oilindustry aren’t spoiled and that they get an increased share of influence in that region, leaving the Kurdish region to the Americans and the Sunni triangle to civil war. Mm doesn’t hat sound like an exit strategy for the US as well ? On the other side, Iraq does also have a significant Kurdish minority and so they do also have an interest in keeping Iraq united.
Indeed, I see no reason for a change in the Iranian politic toward Iraq as long as the US is there and Iraq doesn’t spiral into civil war and eventually split. But they may take some moves in order to be ready if a civil war (well probable alas) erupts.
It is also well possible that Al Hakim’s proposal to create a big autonomous Sumer province in the South, merely derives from his own thirst of power and isn’t dictated by Iran.
Last but not least, many Iraqi bears traces of the Iran/Irak war and are still very resentful toward Iran. There is a latent distrust toward Iranians which could gave way to all kinds of rumors.
Well, still more questions than answers in the end.
I’ve really tried to maintain some hope until now. Lately, my only hope was that the pretense of Iraqis agreeing on a “constitution” and having an “election” could be held together with duck tape and safety pins just long enough for Bush to declare “peace with honor” and withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq. I know, wishful thinking.
I can’t see any more reason not to despair. All the arguments that can be made against this madness have already been made. All the exits were clearly marked, and were pointed out and circled in red on the map, and the convoy rolled right on past them. Inevitable death and destruction await.
I can’t even imagine what it must feel like to be an ordinary person living in Iraq right now. It is amazing that people keep getting up in the morning and going to work, or looking for it. Maybe therein lies the only hope: that ordinary people will just keep getting on somehow with their ordinary lives until all the crazies have exhausted their energies killing each other. Maybe hope has nothing to do with it.
“To believe in this living is just a hard way to go.”
-John Prine (“Angel from Montgomery”)
Albert:
Unlike Salah, I do not think all Iranians are evil.
I don
The Guardian has been able to send reporters inside of Haditha. Their report on the situation shows how the militiae hold the city, control the traffic and entry in the city, how they dictate what people can hear or wear, how they replaced the police the city and maintain order, to the great satisfaction of the population. Pressuring the nearby powerplant, they are even able to get 24hours of electricity for the inhabitants.
This shouldn’t only prevent Bush from biking, but also from sleeping : not only the Americans aren’t winning the hearts and minds of Iraqis, but the Mujahideens are.
Christiane,
A former colleague of mine once quipped that Bush is the kind of guy who crawled into his bed in his flannel pajamas on the night of Sept 11,2001 and slept like a baby. I agree with him.
Realy good site!