No reason for ‘unrealist'-in-chief to read the newspapers

[babylonsister]

http://www.daily-chronicle.com/articles/2006/12/17/opinions/columnists/columnists06b.txt

No reason for ‘unrealist'-in-chief to read the newspapers | Comments (0)

Donald Kaul

Thinking of George Bush the other day - which I'm required to do from time to time, a downside of this gig - reminded me of one of the greatest of all American movies: Billy Wilder's “Sunset Boulevard,” a dark, elegant story of decadence, naked ambition and faded glory played out on the crumbling edges of Hollywood.

It begins with a lingering shot of a corpse floating facedown in a swimming pool while an unseen narrator provides a voice-over. Astonishingly, you soon realize that the narrator is the corpse. We are listening to a tale told by a dead man.

The scene is a perfect metaphor for the Bush Iraq policy. It too is floating facedown in the pool while Mr. Bush, its author, prattles on about victory, unmindful of the fact that it's dead, as is his presidency.

Here are a few of the headlines that would have greeted Mr. Bush in recent weeks were he a reader of newspapers (which he's not):

-“Spy agencies say Iraq war worsens terrorism threat”

-“United States military predicts rising violence in Iraq”

-“Deeper crisis in Iraq, but less United States sway as Bush looks for solutions”

-“Bush adviser's memo cites doubts about Iraqi leader”

-“Iraq panel: Situation grave and deteriorating”

-“Rumsfeld memo proposed ‘major adjustment' in Iraq”

Not a lot of good news there for a president who thinks we're on the path to success in Iraq, but perhaps the hardest to take was Rumsfeld's memo. Rumsfeld, after all, was one of the Happiness Boys who sold us on the fact that the war in Iraq would be easy. Just knock off Saddam, replace him with a leader of our choosing and leave, to the cheers of a grateful Iraqi population.

more...

[volstork]

1. great article

thanks for the post