Three years ago tomorrow
Frank Rich is back in the NY Times, thank goodness, though available only to subscribers. He notes tomorrow's anniversary of Bush's flight suit prance and the laundry list of Bush failures since. He notes Bush's remarks on the third anniversary of the invasion of Iraq.
"We're helping to rebuild Iraq, where the dictator built palaces for himself, instead of hospitals and schools," Mr. Bush said on that glorious day. Three years later we know, courtesy of the Army Corps of Engineers, that our corrupt, Enron-like Iraq reconstruction effort has yielded at most 20 of those 142 promised hospitals. But we did build a palace for ourselves. The only building project on time and on budget, USA Today reported, is a $592 million embassy complex in the Green Zone on acreage the size of 80 football fields. Symbolically enough, it will have its own water-treatment plant and power generator to provide the basic services that we still have not restored to pre-invasion levels for the poor unwashed Iraqis beyond the American bunker.
Rich, like Colbert last night, recalls, too, the press's complicity in cheerleading for Bush in the runup to and early days of the war.
At the time, "Mission Accomplished" was cheered by the Beltway establishment. "This fellow's won a war," the dean of the capital's press corps, David Broder, announced on "Meet the Press" after complimenting the president on the "great sense of authority and command" he exhibited in a flight suit. By contrast, the Washington grandees mostly ignored the Downing Street memo when it was first published in Britain, much as they initially underestimated the import of the Valerie Wilson leak investigation.
Comments
a trip down memory lane- these
WH press folks thought it was
the laugh riot of the year when
bush made jokes about no WMDS
2400 dead americans and counting,
what was so funny?
colbert showed true grit;simply
devastating. there's nothing funny
about a nation being lied into
war. a monstrous betrayal of
the public trust
helen thomas- one of the few
stand-up guys in journalism
Posted by: upstate ny bill | April 30, 2006 06:35 PM
That was one time, I wish he had been right.
Let's hope voters are more careful in choosing future Presidents.
Posted by: K | April 30, 2006 07:23 PM
Over 2,400 U.S. military personnel have died in vain in Iraq, and many more are headed for that same fate. Pictured above is the man who is responsible, and he doesn't give a damn about anything other than his key supporters making lots of money off of this endless tragedy.
Posted by: Public Enemy Number One: Dubya | April 30, 2006 07:42 PM
I'm wondering if the $592 million dollar embassy complex also includes the court room where Sadam is being tried? I remember hearing the building housing Sadam's trial cost something like $518 million. Anyone know if we're both talking about the same building or is there 1 billion in US taxpayer funded new buildings in Baghdad?
John Q. Hammons is really missing a money making opportunity by not taking his construction crew to Iraq.
Posted by: Deathbyinches | April 30, 2006 07:44 PM
Colin Powell, one of the lying liars, admits now that the war strategy is and was a mistake.
He also admits that the economy is such that our grandchildren will be payng for Bush's economic policy - reckless spending, he calls it.
Guess now he is one of the 70 percenters. Maybe there is hope. It is time for every American to start speaking the truth, no matter what party they normally vote for. It is time for ALL Americans to take action and to say over and over to anyone and everyone, privately and publicly, THE WORST PRESIDENT EVER!!!!!!
Posted by: pj | April 30, 2006 10:09 PM
10 times (by the Presidnts count) ... perhaps 20 times the number of innocent civilians(Iraqis) have died than died on Sept. 11, 2001 (Americans)
Osama - 3,000
Bush - 30,000+
Who is the greatest TERRORIST?
Buy the numbers?
Posted by: kdoug | May 1, 2006 01:32 AM
Where do all you Liberal Bush Bashers get your turban towell head things here in Little Rock....? Is there a store here or does the Ark Times sell them to you retail?
Posted by: Anonymous | May 1, 2006 07:28 AM
The mainstream media and Congress not only abdicated their responsibilities as monkeyboy played GI Joe, they aided and abetted this crime. Knowing Bush's background and watching him steal the presidency left little doubt in my mind that his administration would wreak havoc on the values/institutions that I care about.
He's the grandson of a man (Prescott) who had ties to the Nazis. He was born with a tarnished silver spoon in his mouth that enabled him to live a life without one iota of accountability. He was born into a family that's every bit as 'northeastern' as the Kennedy's yet he sells himself as a good ole boy Texas rancher (heck, he can't even ride a horse because he's afraid). His Texas driveing record has conveniently disappeared. His National Guard antics would have landed regular people in the brig, or worse; His Ivy League degrees were obviously not earned the old fashioned way (it should be illegal for some one with his on-paper background to speak like he does). He was schooled on government by Karl Rove when his daddy hired him to 'educate' his boy (guess they don't teach American Government in the Ivy League, either). And, he's never had one successful venture outside of what his daddy handed him.
Why did it take so long for so many Americans to see what was right under their noses? Everyone should have known we'd be saddled with a moron who would steal two presidential elections, take us into an immoral, based-in-lies war, destroy the good will the world felt for us after 9/11, decimate our environment and give us the biggest government and largest deficit ever.
Posted by: suzie | May 1, 2006 07:33 AM
MISSION INCOMPLETE
30,000 dead Iraqi's
14,000 maimed US Soldiers w/ no body armour & no healthcare due to Bush cuts.
2,000+ US soldiers killed.
And for what? Oil we need to cut back on now?
Posted by: Anonymous | May 1, 2006 08:44 AM
RE: Where do all you Liberal Bush Bashers get your turban towell head things here in Little Rock
Sad, isn't it that in the 21st C. people are still that ignorant?
They say people like you suffered a alot of childhood stress. That true? Get some professional help pal before it's too late for you.
"Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies." Nelson Mandela, Nobel Peace Prize Recipient
Posted by: Anonymous | May 1, 2006 08:52 AM
RE: Where do all you Liberal Bush Bashers get your turban towell head things here in Little Rock
You should know Anonymous Bushite. It's probably one of Dubya's good ole' buddies making hay from Bushwar II.
Posted by: docholliday | May 1, 2006 12:38 PM
yawn
Posted by: Anonymous | June 13, 2006 01:08 PM
yawn
Posted by: Anonymous | June 13, 2006 01:08 PM