Deflecting Criticism in the 21st century

It's amazing to me the amount of times that George Bush mentions 9/11 when defending Iraq and deflecting criticism.

"Some have also argued that extremism has been strengthened by the actions of our coalition in Iraq, claiming that our presence in that country has somehow caused or triggered the rage of radicals," Bush said. "I would remind them that we were not in Iraq on September the 11th, 2001, and al Qaeda attacked us anyway. The hatred of the radicals existed before Iraq was an issue, and it will exist after Iraq is no longer an excuse."

This logic is just really, really fuzzy to me. He seems to say in the first sentence that it's ridiculous to think that Iraq has caused more terrorist activities and that it's silly to think that it's easier to recruit more terrorists when there is a war going on. Then in the second sentence he says that Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11, but fails to mention that we were in Israel and had our hands in various other Mid-Eastern pies. The third sentence is the most baffling of all: These people hated us before Iraq and they'll continue to hate us after we're done there. That says to me that what we're doing in Iraq isn't going to help us fight terrorists at all, it's as though Bush is admitting that Iraq has nothing to do with terrorism (and I believe that it had nothing to do with terrorism in the first place but has created a war zone that makes it easier to recruit terrorists.)

It seems like what he's saying overall is that despite the facts, things aren't worse and to just trust him. It seems as though George Bush is oblivious to the causes of terrorism. It seems as though he's oblivious to the problems he's caused. It seems as though he's decided how things ought to work, despite the facts and wants to proceed anyway.

Violence begets violence. Violence in Iraq caused by us will cause violence against us. It's common sense. Imposing political ideology at gunpoint will only cause more problems. Imposing political ideology at gunpoint in the middle-east will only cause a larger cultural rift between us and them.

It's clear to me (and the majority of Americans, according to recent polls) that Iraq was a gigantic folly and is only going to make things worse.

If you read that whole article that I linked to, you'll read where Bush and Cheney were making their speeches and when. In an effort to draw attention away from Patrick Fitzgerald's press conference, Bush and Cheney had simultaneous televised speeches to rally support from the troops for the "mission" in Iraq. It seems to me a sad day in a conflict when the you have to go to the military and try to convince them after 2 years of conflict that we're doing something, anything with their lives beyond wasting them.

I think that's all we're doing. Wasting their lives.