“Bush had more substance,” a fellow blogger declared, “He won the debate.”
“You are also the only other person besides President Bush and Iyad Allawi that thinks things are going swimmingly in Iraq. “ I retorted, ”Bumper sticker slogans and tired Rovian rhetoric does not for substance make.”
After more exchange, it became evident my friend was going to believe only one reality, his prerogative, but his defense of the Iraq war as some shining example of Bush foreign policy ate at me.
“You’ve got to support the troops,”he proclaimed.
I picked at my face for a second and asked how questioning our civilian government’s military decisions impacted a soldier whose sole duty was to do the task assigned to them. I wondered if one can support the troops, but perhaps not the reasons for which they are being asked to sacrifice their lives. Wasn’t part of respecting the military using it in a conscientious manner, and not relying on speculative / faulty intelligence while forgetting the all – important exit strategy?
This threw my friend off a bit, but spoke of Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi’s upbeat comments last week, when he was trotted out by the Bush Administration to answer against Kerry attacks that the war was not going so well. In what was pure sycophantic theatrics, Allawi thanked the American people,”from the bottom of my heart,” and exclaimed that fifteen out of eighteen provinces in Iraq could hold elections “tomorrow”. Even if this last statement were true, it is somewhat telling when a person hints at partial democracy. Imagine our upcoming election missing just a few states, which ones would you pick? Texas? Florida? Missouri? Okay, now which way do you lean?
I believe Allawi is a good guy, according to Wikipedia, since summer of 2004, Allawi has created a domestic spy agency; the General Security Directorate, gave himself the power to declare Martial law, and purportedly executed six suspected Iraqi insurgents by his own hand to,”send a clear message to police that this is how to deal with insurgents”. The execution by Allawi was reported by the Sydney Morning Herald, just one week before the Bush Administration handed over control to his interim government.
Months later, Allawi is the Bush Administration cheerleader on our handling of Iraq.
Yes, Allawi is a swell guy, when he was head of the Iraqi National Accord after being recruited by the CIA in 1992, the INA committed terrorist attacks in Iraq involving a civilian movie theater and a school bus full of children. One former Central Intelligence Agency officer who was based in the region, Robert Baer, recalled that a bombing during that period "blew up a school bus, schoolchildren were killed." Though Mr. Baer said he did not recall what group may have been involved, other former intelligence officials said Dr. Allawi's organization was the only resistance group involved in bombings and sabotage at that time [1992 -1995].
Mr. Allawi is only another sign of how wrong the whole mess in Iraq is, I’ve grown just a little weary of some touting the war as an untouchable “sacred cow”. The assertion that only unpatriotic individuals would ever dare endanger our troops with talk of dissent is such malarkey to be spoken of by those that empower men as Mr. Allawi.
Some sources...
http://washingtontimes.com/world/20040924-120640-7793r.htm
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A33260-2004Jul7.html,
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/09/politics/09ALLA.html?ex=1097121600&en=16c77e9e418a3982&ei=5070&ex=1087747955&ei=1&en=c040fed2685e7eb8&oref=regi,
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/07/16/1089694568757.html?oneclick=true,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iyad_Allawi