Published: March 30, 2008 02:42 pm            

Too bad Bush can’t juggle

President Bush - what do you do with him?

You can’t live with him and you can’t try him as a war criminal - yet.

Whenever he’s speaking, I can’t help but imagine him in a circus clown outfit. Bush’s speeches wouldn’t be half as boring if only he could juggle.

Still, half the time he can sound like a Saturday Night Live skit about himself - “I glance at the headlines just to kind of get a flavor for what's moving. I rarely read the stories, and get briefed by people who probably read the news themselves."

This is most likely why he was quoted Feb. 28 saying, "Wait a minute. What did you just say? You're predicting $4-a-gallon gas? ... That's interesting. I hadn't heard that.”

His grasp of Iraq is just as sharp, “The solution to Iraq - an Iraq that can govern itself, sustain itself and defend itself - is more than a military mission. Precisely the reason why I sent more troops into Baghdad.”

It would be funny if the results weren’t so tragic.

Just remember him under a “Mission Accomplished” banner five years ago stating that major combat operations in Iraq had ended - “In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed."

I guess those 300 killed in Basra last week were freakish traffic accidents.

What is more clownish and boarish than from the comfort and security of the White House, to goad fanatics to “bring them on?” Did he think people who strap bombs to themselves would be intimidated? What other world leader would invite the enemy to attack his or her own troops?

Since that little macho strutting in 2003, they did bring it on. Approximately 3,500 American soldiers and more than 100,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed since that boastful mocking. And for about every fatality there have been 15 troops wounded.

Dr. Gerald Cross of the federal Veterans Health Administration recently told Congress that there are 300,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans being treated at Veterans Affairs hospitals. More than half these soldiers were there for serious mental health conditions - 68,000 of which are post-traumatic stress disorder cases.

Estimates put about one in four of the nation’s homeless as veterans - or almost 300,000. The percentage continues to increase.

Bush seems to have no connection to reality. Just recently our little warrior told of his regret at not being able to join the troops.

“I must say, I'm a little envious,” Bush said. “If I were slightly younger and not employed here, I think it would be a fantastic experience to be on the front lines of helping this young democracy succeed. It must be exciting for you … in some ways romantic, in some ways, you know, confronting danger.”

Tell that to the one in five soldiers coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

I wonder if the 121 soldiers who took their own lives last year found it romantic - or the 2,100 soldiers who injured themselves or attempted suicide during the same time period. Those numbers don’t even count the suicides of veterans no longer in the service.

This gushing about war is from the guy who did everything he could to stay out of combat during the Vietnam War. At that time, Bush used family connections to get his name listed ahead of 500 other applicants to be a Texas Air National Guard pilot - despite making only the minimum passing score (25) on the pilot entrance aptitude test.

Unlike today, Guard and Reserve members seldom saw combat.

When Bush failed to take his mandatory physical in 1972, his flight status was suspended. Air Force regulations require that there be an investigation when a pilot fails to take an examination, followed by an evaluation board review or a detailed report forwarded up the chain of command. There are no records that these measures were ever done.

Then our gallant warrior went to Alabama to work on a family friend’s campaign. He requested and was given a Guard transfer to the state - where few other pilots have a memory of ever seeing him on base.

With such a war record, it is no wonder our commander in chief can be quoted as saying. "I'm the commander — see, I don't need to explain — I do not need to explain why I say things. That's the interesting thing about being president.”

And with statements like those, who needs to know how to juggle?



Dan Ehl writes for Daily Iowegian in Centerville, Iowa.

        

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