Situation Excellent, Bush In Trouble
By Michael R. Bowen (10/14/03)
Letter to the Editor, Granite State News:
If your eyes glazed over before you could finish William Rivers Pitt's "Other Voices"1 column last week, don't feel badly. It took him 15 paragraphs to vent his copious reserve of bile, but I can summarize his words for you in one:
"I hate George W. Bush. I hate him so much that rather than have him succeed, I prefer that the most heinous mass murderers remain in power. I hate him so much that when he frees an oppressed people I can feel only shame. So much that when he refuses to submit control of our national destiny to a collection of dictators, terrorists, and anti-Semites, I feel anger rather than gratitude. So much that if he fails to precisely describe every wart and blemish of a purported enemy, I declare that he has made the whole thing up. In my fevered mind no act of his could possibly be motivated by anything other than bigotry and greed. I do not hope for everything to come right in Iraq, nor for the United Nations to begin to stand up for the ideals it espouses; I only wish for Bush to fail and be replaced. I do not care to pitch in and help, and will never surrender my hatred long enough to look for anything worthy of my support in this administration. Nothing will do except the destruction of George W. Bush."
The whole article is an almost demented rant, conjuring up a mental image of Mr. Pitt: lips curled, face red, spittle flying. This is where the expression "Angry Left" comes from. It's a shame, because Mr. Pitt seems like an intelligent and articulate fellow. A mind is a terrible thing to waste.
Ahmed Chalabi, leader of the Iraqi National Congress and President Bush's favorite for leadership of the new Iraq, comes in for a liberal dose of the Pitt spleen: "crawling kingsnake", "hand-painted sock puppet", etc. It is true that Mr. Chalabi was convicted of bank fraud ..... by a Jordanian court. In absentia. I wonder whether, should he be accused of a crime, Mr. Pitt would be willing to be tried in a Jordanian court himself. Especially if he were an enemy of a neighboring state with a history of invading its neighbors. I'm betting the Jordanians would convict the Pope of bank fraud, if that's what it took to keep Saddam's tanks from rolling over the border. When you read the various articles about Chalabi written by people who aren't foaming at the mouth, you find that there are good reasons to question the veracity of the Jordanian charges.
Is it a "mess" in Iraq, as Mr. Pitt tells us? I guess so, if you prefer mass graves, torture chambers, and prisons full of children. Electrical service is back to prewar levels, oil production is resuming, a vibrant and independent press is in full cry, and the beginnings of self-government are underway. Some mess. Have we lost the respect of the United Nations? Perhaps, but I'm not sure I'd be ashamed of being despised by nations like Libya, China, North Korea, Sudan, or even France.
But it's Mr. Pitt's clever bon mot about the French officer's battle communique that really points up the twist in his thinking: "Hard pressed on my right. My center is yielding. Impossible to maneuver. Situation excellent, I am attacking!" Mr. Pitt thinks this describes the confusion, unreality, and dishonesty of the Bush administration. But that's not confusion, Mr. Pitt. It's not folly, and it's not deception.
It's called valor, Mr. Pitt. If you weren't so radioactive with hatred, you'd see it.
1. Situation excellent, I am attacking, by William Rivers Pitt, reprinted in the Granite State News, "Other Voices" [scroll down the page to the 3rd item].
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