NEWS: Bush Spits On The Graves Of American Soldiers

POLITICS: Bush Spits On The Graves Of American Soldiers

George Bush went to Western Iraq yesterday to pose for cameras in a pathetic attempt to show that his surge is working. But he did much more than just take pictures with troops; he also met with Iraqi leaders. Pictures of Bush shaking the hand of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and President Jalal Talibani were seen across the world. But most disgusting of all, Bush was seen shaking the hands of Sunni sheikhs who have switched sides in the conflict. Up until this year, those very men were in charge of forces that were killing Americans. And George shook their hands. He is a sickening, soulless man.

We started our new policy of paying, arming and fighting alongside the Sunnis in the Anbar province in April. We essentially gave our enemies amnesty if they agreed to help US forces fight al-Qaeda.

This, of course, pissed off the Shiites because they don’t think the US should pick sides in their religious war. Is it the right decision? Who knows? I usually fall on the side that says, “Quit fucking arming everybody.” But that’s just me. The policy did result in less American deaths in Anbar, which is obviously a good thing. Yet, the policy only increases the odds of bloodshed the minute US troops leave.

Policy aside, what Bush did yesterday is fucking despicable. The man has no soul. Imagine the joy that the relatives of soldiers must have felt as they opened newspapers to see Bush shaking hands with the men who sent their loved ones to their death. Some died just his year. The policy is one thing, but Bush certainly did not have to meet with or shake the hands of those men. It is an insult to every man and woman who gave their lives in Anbar.

Since the war began, one thousand two hundred-sixty four US soldiers have died in Anbar province. And the President of the United States just shook the hands of the men responsible. Nice work, you class-A fucking douche bag. Bush, of course, gets a pass from the weak and worthless US media.

Inspiring. The president meets with and shakes the hands of men who were killing our soldiers just five months ago, and not a word about it. Instead, we get a delightful quote from a White House mouthpiece. Hold your heads high American reporters, because you have the ability to scribble down direct quotes from the government.

Since the media will not hold Bush accountable he will never have to answer this simple question: “Why did you just shake the hands of the men who killed our soldiers, you shameless fuck?”

Trouble is that most people can't remember which side we're supposed to be fighting these days. So long as you leave it a couple of months you're free to go use a treaty with people who were blowing you up as a press-op. People who haven't been directly affected just don't recall this stuff, and rely on the media to clue them in. To me, this story is more an indictment of the shocking malleability of mainstream news sources and their failure to clearly inform the public or ask difficult questions of our leaders (here in the UK as well as in the US).

This is the way it's gone for years in this country, switching allegiances every month with no thought to the long-term consequences. Who doesn't remember Rummy shaking hands with Saddam not all that long ago.

Best thing you've ever written: "Hold your heads high American reporters, because you have the ability to scribble down direct quotes from the government."

i think you have to discern between a shake of the hand signifying a new beginning and a less deplorable road to the future and a shake of the hand signifying that these are good men who have done good things. in my opinion, it's not the latter.

either way, this title is (like most of FTR's titles) misleading and blown way out of proportion.

It's only a matter of time before the money, arms and bush administration/military-installed puppet regimes/sheikhdoms/fifedoms all come around to bite us in the ass once it is favorable for them to do so. We've seen it in Japan after WW I, Vietnam and Korea after WW II, Iraq after the Iran/Iraq war, Afghanistan after another "battle against communism" vs. the Soviet Union, and on and on...

When is this country going to wake up to the fact that you can get much more done at the end of a shovel or water treatment plant (and MUCH cheaper I might add) than at the end of a loaded gun barrel?

Bush talks of "National Security" and when a REAL national emergency like Katrina (and rarely mentioned Rita) comes along:

"Oops, no money after all this war-ing. Sorry. We'll just raze what's left of your home for Donald Trump to come in and swallow up. Too bad.
Hey? Would you rather be safe at home or be at risk of some Islamofascists to come over here and blow us up?"

Is is too late to pray for Revolution?

Thanks, robot.

meh.

I'm with the robot on his one. If there's ever going to be any kind of peace in Iraq (which is what everyone actually wants, right?), old animosities will have to be put aside at some point.

That said, I also have little doubt that this effort to do so will prove to be as intellectually and morally bankrupt as every other act of this administration.

RIght, and I addressed that. Still it does not explain why the president shook the hands of men who were killing our soldiers 5 months ago. Working with them, possibly understandable. It will obviously backfire, but whatever.

Sorry, shaking their hands for a photo op is inexcusable.

We should definitely deal with things like war on an emotional level, instead of a rational level. Otherwise, we might stop having them, and then where would we be? Dude, the terrorists would have won!

So yeah, keep internalizing your hatred. Hatred makes the world go 'round.

Translation: You condone this war. Just say that and nothing else, really, because we've heard what you're going to type in afterwards before.

Maybe shaking hands is sometimes not so bad?

Whoa! Tone down that rage, peacemonger!

Unfortunately,this has bin happening through history for thousands of years.
Two nations fighting and killing each other suddenly stop and join forces to fight someone else.They call it a necessary evil.
Leaders have had to shake hands with other leaders who have had there people kill thousands for many reasons.
One,to show ALL sides that peace is possible.
Two,the opposite effect,to show that we gained another ally who was once our enemy,which only makes us stronger.
Three,to show the people on both sides that we are serious about this joining forces,by having our leaders in the same room.
No one likes it.The people on both sides hate it,after all we were both JUST killing each other in what we believe was right.
NO one on either side thinks its the right thing to do.
But its a necessary evil.

Keep being judgmental. It's very Buddhist.

Indeed. And a fantastic comparison.

I'm with FTR on this one. Attempting to work with them is at least an attempt in a direction more palatable than the usual tactics of this administration.
The photo op? Not acceptable.

I would think it would be way worse for the Sunni leaders to be seen shaking hands with the man responsible for the deaths of about a million Iraqi civilians.

"no better friend, no worse enemy."

let me preface this by saying that i don't condone the war and certainly don't like bush.

however, while i understand the need to shake some hands and try and align everybody to the same direction (thus ending, or at least toning down, the violence); i definitely think the act could have been accomplished without the vulgar display that is the photo-op. because ftr is right, taking pictures of the great decider/invader shaking hands with their enemies does nothing to bring the shia majority to our side. had it been done in a closed session with no press, the sentiment of "thanks for stopping some of the killing" could have been conveyed without enraging more future insurgents.

besides, it's been like this and it'll continue like this. we used to be fighting the shia full-time, remember al-sadr? then it was a sunni insurgency. so now we're at war with eurasia and next month we'll be at war with eastasia instead. i've always felt that these clowns mistook 1984 for a how-to guide, and not the warning it was meant to be.

It is not a necessary evil. It is the nature of war - or at least hopefully. After the fighting stops, you make up, make friends or at least stop thinking of each other as enemies. The basis of old relationships must fall away and a new one be formed. Forgiveness must ensue.

Problem is, none of that is what is happening here. Bush wants to, needs to, HAS to go into 2009 with something that he can call a win in this mess, and he will sign a deal with the devil to accomplish that.

More to the point, Bush thinks that he is using these folks when in fact they are using him - as they have used occupiers for centuries before Bush came along. There will be no forgiveness here. While the Sunnis MAY stop killing US troops, what their intention is here is to use this as an advantage over the Shia, and continue killing them until they are all gone. These folks don't forget slights, loss of honor or damage to family and standing -- they never forgive.

This is all just part of the exit strategy: make it look like peace and then let it fall apart on the next President.

Man, FTR, you're on fire today! Did somebody piss in your Wheaties?

There was a Daily Show thing on our stellar foreign policy. "America to the Rescue!" We give guns to people we hate less than the enemy of the week, then when they become the next contestant, we give guns to some other group. It's only going to go downhill. Of course, "America to the Rescue" only applies to foreign aid. Katrina's victims are still fucked, that bridge collapse got thirty seconds of coverage, and the economy's tearing apart at the seams. Yeah, fuckers, keep telling yourselves the economy's stronger than ever. Eventually, if you really, really, really want it, and you say it over and over again, it'll come true. Screw praying for revolution. Make it happen. That's the only way any of this shit's going to change, because there sure as hell isn't any other incentive for the government to fix itself.

I'm done with this mess. Sadness and anger live in our veins these days. We are now being born with it.

+1

FTR doesn't know that the media is a lot of what influences the american view and most of the worlds....

And who knows that photo op could be on a reel of pictures of a possible coming out of this war....one day far from now.

No, it's still (and will always be) something that can be controlled or avoided. We're just too stubborn and stupid to do anything about it.