Article: Clueless George's Responsibility Problem

Nobody should be surprised at George W. Bush's innate inability to understand the word "responsibility". After all, the perpetually mollified son of privilege masquerading as the leader of our country has never personally known such a thing. Since the day he was born, he has had every mess he has ever made cleaned up for him by somebody else. And true to form, he is now trying desperately to expand the already unprecedented mess he has made in Iraq until he is out of office, when cleaning it up will be someone else's problem. Note to all neocon parrots: Saying "the responsibility rests with me" on national television, in the same warmed-over, rearranged speech he has been giving for four years doesn't cut it. For words like that to mean anything, they have to be followed up with responsible action. Sending 21,000 more troops into Iraq, against the advice of generals who actually understand how to conduct a war (and who say that the minimum number of troops needed for such a "surge" in a country the size of Iraq would be 250,000) is not responsible. It represents a level of Oval Office ignorance that is unprecedented in American history. But there was the Pretender-in-Chief yesterday, saying in response to those with the courage to publicly challenge his ignorance: "To oppose everything while proposing nothing is irresponsible." As if it was entirely responsible of him to: Illegally divert 700 million dollars appropriated for Afghanistan to Iraq in 2002, in preparation for the war that he was saying right up to the last minute was a last resort. Include the bogus claim of a uranium deal between Iraq and Niger in his 2003 State of the Union Address, when his own intelligence community had been telling him for months that the claim could not be substantiated, and had actually forced him to remove the claim from a late 2002 speech. Pull the weapons inspectors out of Iraq so he could launch "Shock and Awe", and claim that it was Saddam who threw them out and forced his hand. Send troops into battle so poorly protected that many were forced to "armor" their Humvees with plywood and sand bags, and families were forced to buy protective and communication equipment on their own and send it to their loved ones in Iraq. Allow the Pentagon to tell troops that if they died in battle wearing armor that they had purchased themselves (because the armor provided by the company with the exclusive Pentagon contract was crap and completely unsafe), their families might not receive their death benefits. Stand up at the Radio and Television Correspondents' Dinner in early 2004, with the blood of several hundred American troops and several thousand innocent Iraqis already on his hands, and actually make jokes about not being able to find the weapons of mass destruction that he said made his war necessary. Say continuously that "We will settle for nothing less than total victory", without ever (to this day) defining "total victory". Tell the families of the soldiers killed in his illegal war of choice that they died for a noble cause, without ever (to this day) telling them what the noble cause is. This could go on for a while. I'm sure you get the point. This country has never had a more irresponsible, criminally culpable president. Another Bush quote from yesterday proves how completely disingenuous and out of touch this neocon puppet is: "Those who refuse to give this plan a chance to work have an obligation to offer an alternative that has a better chance for success." Once again, Mr. "President", you are ever so hopelessly and ever so transparently wrong. Although we have been offering alternatives all along, a very large number of us since before your war of choice began, the ultimate obligation to find success rests with you, since you are solely responsible (remember that word?) for starting this mess. Here's our oft-repeated alternative anyway, not because we want to help you out, but because we want to help out our brave fellow Americans in uniform, for whom your entire administration has shown and continues to show such blatant and utter contempt: Get the hell out. Now. The violence will not begin to subside until the reason for its existence (your illegal invasion and occupation) is removed. Your own Pentagon has noted that the vast majority of violence in Iraq is a result of homegrown insurgents and not terrorists, although it is probably safe to say that as long as we stay, the number of non-Iraqi terrorists in Iraq will only grow. The insurgency exists because we are viewed not as liberators, but occupiers, which of course is true. When we leave, taking all the permanent military bases and the world's largest American embassy with us, so goes the fuel for the insurgency. Certainly this does not solve the problem of the Iraqi civil war that you created, and the Iraqi people understand this. But well over 80 percent of them still want us to just leave. They understand that they cannot begin to settle their differences and truly take their country back until the target of the majority of violence is gone. Of course, it's all a moot argument. Your disingenuous calls for opponents of your ignorance to come up with their own plan will continue, and legitimate, coherent alternatives to your murderous war will continue to be ignored. You will continue to refuse to heed the call of the freedom and Democracy you claim to be spreading, because your real goal in Iraq is no such thing. It really is all about the oil, money, power and control, callously achieved with the blood of American troops and innocent civilians. Which is precisely why you and your entire administration, Mr. "President", must be impeached, removed from office and tried to the fullest extent of American and international law for your heinous crimes. If there is any real justice left in this world, you will soon finally learn what it really means to be responsible.