August 16, 2006

How out to lunch is Bush?

On Monday, he held a luncheon with a bunch of academics to discuss Iraq.

And, according to some of the participants quoted in the Aug. 16 New York Times, he couldn’t figure out why the Iraqi people aren’t more grateful for all that he and the U.S. troops have done for them.

The timing of the story was not so great for Bush, though. Because on the very same page was a story that noted that “July appears to have been the deadliest month of the war for Iraqi civilians,” with “an average of more than 110 Iraqis” dying every day there. The rate is nearly double what it was in January.

That’s just one little clue for the clueless commander in chief.

According to the Times, “in the first seven months of this year, at least 17,776 Iraqi civilians died violently.”

If there’s anarchy, and if you can’t go out of your house for fear of being murdered, what’s there to be grateful for?

Bush likes to say he liberated the people of Iraq, but many are tasting that liberty in the grave.

At the luncheon, Bush also expressed puzzlement that thousands of Iraqis would rally against the United States in Baghdad, the Times said. He was referring to the rally organized by Muqtada al-Sadr against the Lebanon War, where people chanted “Death to Israel, Death to America.”

Clearly, Bush still doesn’t understand the dynamics in Iraq or the greater Middle East. Prior to launching the Iraq War, Bush didn’t even know there were two competing Islamic groups in Iraq, Shiite and Sunni, according to a new book by Peter Galbraith. Even today, Bush apparently can’t grasp that al-Sadr’s Shiites are aligned with the Shiites of Hezbollah, even though al-Sadr’s supporters have been carrying around posters of Nasrallah for years.

And for some inexplicable reason, Bush failed to anticipate that U.S. support for Israel’s invasion of Lebanon would further incite hatred against the United States.

It’s getting a little late to study up. And Bush would rather whine about Iraqi ingrates anyway than figure out what’s going on, much less change policy to reflect reality.

Rather than take responsibility for the mess he’s made, Bush is going into self-pity mode.

He’s entering into deep, dark Nixon territory here.

When the mightiest person on the planet starts feeling sorry for himself, look out. You never know what maniacal thing he may do next to salve his wounded pride.

Poor, powerful him.