Bush vs. reality: the struggle continues

Bush the Magnificent, Liberator of Peoples, speech to the Republican National Convention, 09/02/04:

Today, the government of a free Afghanistan is fighting terror. ... Because we acted to defend our country, the murderous regimes of Saddam Hussein and the Taliban are history, more than 50 million people have been liberated, and democracy is coming to the broader Middle East. ... In Afghanistan, terrorists have done everything they can to intimidate people, yet more than 10 million citizens have registered to vote in the October presidential election, a resounding endorsement for democracy.

Rocket Fired at Karzai's Helicopter by Pamela Constable Washington Post 09/17/04 (placed on page A14; my emphasis):

Afghan President Hamid Karzai escaped an apparent assassination attempt Thursday when a rocket was fired at his helicopter as he was about to land in a provincial capital. The attack caused no injuries or damage, but forced Karzai to cancel his first trip outside Kabul since he began campaigning for presidential elections to be held Oct. 9. ...

Security around Karzai, 46, has been extremely tight since he survived an assassination attempt just over two years ago while visiting the southern city of Kandahar. ...

After that attack, Karzai's Afghan bodyguards were replaced by a U.S. security detail at the Bush administration's insistence, and he has remained largely confined to his heavily guarded palace compound in Kabul. Karzai, who was named head of the interim government in December 2001 under a U.N. plan, has received strong backing from Washington.

Karzai was traveling in a U.S. military helicopter for Thursday's trip. A U.S. military spokesman here, Maj. Mark McCann, declined to discuss Karzai's means of transportation, but he confirmed that a rocket had been fired at the president's helicopter and had missed, landing several hundred yards from the school Karzai was to visit.

Afghan Leader's Helicopter is Attacked, Aborting a Campaign Rally by Carlotta Gall New York Times 09/17/04 (my emphasis):

The helicopter, an American Chinook, swerved violently and soared away back to Kabul, swirling dust over hundreds of schoolchildren, tribal elders and government dignitaries lined up to greet the president. ...

But American coalition and Afghan troops on the ground were taking no risks. Gunfire had been directed at an American vehicle simultaneously, and the president's visit was abandoned. "Such a shame, just one guy can ruin the day for everyone," said one American security official. ...

Back at the presidential palace in Kabul and clearly frustrated, Mr. Karzai made light of the rocket attack and chided his American and Afghan security officials for being overly cautious. "I think really our guys are taking a lot of precautions for no reason," he said.

He said he had asked to land after the rocket was fired, but the security men on board had refused. Once back in Kabul, he called the governor of Paktia, who was still on the ground waiting for him to arrive.

"I said, "What was going on?' and he said, 'Nothing, there was just one rocket that came and landed two kilometers away, and the people are still here,' " Mr. Karzai recounted to journalists later in the afternoon. He immediately asked to return to Gardez, but security officials ruled it out.

"So I am thinking of that now, that on a trip like that I should take my own measures," he said. Or, he joked, he would start making secret visits to provinces, without the knowledge of his security detail. ...

Mr. Karzai rarely moves out of the Arg, the former royal palace compound where he has both his office and residence, and apart from one speech in Kabul to open his election campaign last week, he has yet to do any campaigning. And the incident in Gardez revealed how little the president is in charge. He clearly had no control over his return to Kabul.

Yes, Afghanistan has been "liberated" and its government is "free."  The elections scheduled for October have more people registered to vote in them than there are eligible voters.  Parliamentary elections that were scheduled to occur at the same time were cancelled because of lack of security, though security is considered sufficient for the presidential election.  Though the security situation has kept the president essentially confined to his palace for the last two years.

The president of the "free", terrorist-fighting government of Afghanistan is guarded by American security forces.  American security forces that do not answer to the president of "free" Afghanistan.  When the president of free Afghanistan said he wanted to leave Kabul and go back to the rally, the American security detail told the head of Afghanistan's "sovereign" government: no, you can't go.  When the president of free Afghanistan does go out to campaign - assuming he ever makes it to an actual campaign appearance outside of Kabul - he travels in a US military helicopter.

One has to wonder, if the president of the country is not only unable to leave the capital city but even unable to leave his palace grounds, if he doesn't have enough loyal and effective troops to provide for his own personal security for the last two years, if soldiers of a foreign government have complete veto over his own movements in his own country, how much is his government really like to be contributing to "fighting terror"?

It pretty much goes without saying how "free" the "government of a free Afghanistan" is.  Just out of curiosity, I wonder how this compares to the Soviet client regime installed in late 1979 that triggered the systematic American support of the "mujahadeen" in Afghanistan?  Could the head of that government decide to leave his palace without first getting the permission of the Soviet government?

Glorious Leader Bush, Mighty Defender of the Oppressed and Strong Protector of the Women of the World, in a campaign speech in St. Cloud, Minnesota 09/16/04.

Because we acted to defend ourselves, because we acted in our self interest, more than 50 million people in Iraq and Afghanistan are now free. (Applause.) Fifty million people. You know, it wasn't all that long ago in Afghanistan where young girls won't [sic] allowed to go to school because the Taliban was so backward and so barbaric that they wouldn't allow for education for young kids; that their mothers were taken to the public square and whipped sometimes in sports stadiums and killed, because they wouldn't toe their line.

Today, over 10 million citizens -- three short years after the Taliban has been removed -- 10 million citizens, 41 percent of whom are women, have registered to vote in the upcoming presidential elections. (Applause.) It's unbelievable.

At least the last sentence is true.