Cest Moi Political Blog

President Bush is now partially backing himself away from the highly premature claims made against the "highest levels" of Tehran's government that they were directly involved in providing Iraqi militants with weapons that have killed 170 American troops. This very precise claim was made only days ago and came under fairly quick scrutiny. General Peter Pace, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff could not get behind the claims at all saying "I would not say by what I know that the Iranian government clearly knows or is complicit."

In a recent statement, Bush maintains the US was "certain", he said, that the Quds force was providing a weapon known as an EFP, which the US says has been used in particularly deadly attacks. But backpedaling, he now says he does not know who was directing the force, and denied laying the groundwork for an attack on Iran.

Simple sanity might dictate that if you repeatedly find yourself being misunderstood - you might refrain from actions or statements you are forced to deny or rationalize. Call me a stickler for the expectation of accuracy and responsibility. He is, after all merely hurling an act of war accusation at a highly volatile regime with whom the US has a relationship so tense, the taut lines threaten to snap at any moment.

We can no longer muster up any confidence in this administration. We are constantly spoon fed misinformation; half truths; embellishments; denials; rationalizations. Hell, we are so accustomed to that we don't even get angry enough about it anymore.

I was deeply disappointed when Bush ~~oval office-jacked~~ was elected to the White House. I didn't have faith in his ability as leader and was disturbed by his narrow sighted ideology. Those reasonable objections seem small and unimportant now that I know the scope of his presidential personae. I know it well. Most do, as evidenced in this administration’s global lack of credibility. He has paralyzed himself with it. Instead of learning lessons and rising to complicated challenges, he compensates by distancing himself from valuable opinion, from the will of the people and by keeping a strangle hold on his claim to unprecedented executive power. He uses tools that help him exercise that power. He maintains a heightened sense of fear and anger; that gives him the rationalization for fairly radical behavior. He either takes uninformed to a breathtaking level or he perpetuates falsehoods. When we question, he reminds us that he is the only one who completely understands; he is the only one who calls the shots; and we should be grateful to follow his lead, lest we all die at the hands of terrorists. While wounded, we let ourselves be comforted by that. What escapes his attention is that we now know it's all rubbish.

Here we are now with serious problems to address. Solutions for which, we cannot confidently look to our President for.

When I hear "you should be willing to sacrifice liberty so I can keep you safe" - what logic or measure of faith keeps me from screaming "At this point, no tale you could tell would convince me to be violated in that manner."

When I hear "victory in Iraq" - what logic keeps me from saying, "Where exactly does one find victory in a war based solely on untruths that has killed more Americans than 9-11 did."

When I hear "we found the evidence that the Iranian government supplied the weapons that killed 170 American troops" - what logic keeps me from saying "we'll know soon enough that was nothing but this administration creating a rationalization for an air-raid on Iran".

When I hear "diplomatic deal struck to disarm North Korea" - what logic or measure of faith keeps me from saying, "diplomacy where there is no oil and nuclear test launches -- but saber rattling, accusations unsupported by fact and war chanting when it comes to Iran."

An administration that no longer inspires any confidence or trust is impotent.