Bush calls for military volunteers; asks Young Republicans to set example for others

Yeah, right.

Instead, Dear Leader Bush gave us the following messages (all quotes from the transcript at the Washington Post Web site: Text of President Bush's Speech at Fort Bragg, N.C. 06/28/05).  I've paraphrased and boiled it down a bit here.  (My own comments are in parentheses.)

The Iraq War is a response to the 9/11 attacks.  A Terrorist is a Terrorist, and we have to git 'em.  (Except the ones we're negotiating with, of course.)

The Iraq War is "a central front in the war on terror."  (Or at least it became that after we invaded and gave the jihadists a new cause, in addition to a massive training ground in urban guerrilla warfare.)

I (Bush) agree with Osama bin Laden - and I'm actually saying his name out loud - when he says, "This third world war is raging in Iraq.  The whole world is watching this war.  He says it will end in victory and glory or misery and humiliation."  (I'll wait to see what Arabic-speaking fact-checkers like Juan Cole or Michael Scheuer may have to say about this part; I don't recall ever seeing a statement by Bin Laden that identified Iraq with a Third World War.  But it's no surprise that Bush agrees with a mirror-image of what he takes to be Bin Laden's ideology.)

The Terrorists are bad.

If we withdraw from Iraq, Bin Laden (he mentioned his name again!) or somebody like him will take over the Middle East.

The Iraqi security forces are taking over for Americans.  Really, I wouldn't lie to you about Iraq, would I?

Lots of other countries are helping us in Iraq.

Every day in Iraq, things are getting better and better in every way.

If we set a deadline to leave, The Terrorists would know that all they have to do is wait us out.  (At the start, he said if we weren't fighting The Terrorists in Iraq, they would be coming here to kill us.  Now he says they would stay in Iraq to wait us out.  I guess we're getting so "postmodern" now that we can switch realities in the middle of a single speech.)

Don't ask me when we might ever leave.

I'm not sending more troops.  I just do what the generals tell me.  If something goes wrong - and nothing has and nothing willl - it may be their fault.  Definitely not mine.

Iraq is becoming a wonderful democracy.  Really, the people there support the government.  And the government there supports us.  And we support them. Trust me.

Our invasion made Libya give up WMDs.  (Let's not worry about how they were trying to make a deal even before that.)

Freedom is on the march in Palestine, Lebanon, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.  And it's all my doing.

We have to maintain our Will to defeat The Terrorists.  Maintaining our Will means supporting my policies and pretending not to notice when I blow smoke in your faces.

Did I mention that the Iraq War is kind of like 9/11?  No, wait.  It's The Terrorists.  They were trying to break our Will on 9/11.  And now in Iraq.  Iraq War, 9/11, The Terrorists, it's all the same.

Iraq is where The Terrorists are making their stand against America.  (They're not waiting us out any more.  They're back to going to Iraq to fight Americans. Postmodern speeches can make you dizzy.)

The Iraq War is kind of like the Revolutionary War and the Civil War.  (Don't think too hard about the comparisons, though.)

Americans believe in Truth, fighting Evil, Strength, Hard Work, Courage and Freedom.  Which is on the march, by the way.

We're grateful for our military.  If we didn't have them, Jenna and Barbara might be expected to volunteer for the Army.  And I might be expected to call for volunteers.  Or propose a draft.

Oh, and we liberated Afghanistan, just like Iraq.  Things are swell there now, too.

[End paraphrasing.]

Well, that clears everything up, doesn't it?

I was struck by Bush posturing as a mirror-image of Bin Laden.  Who had nothing to do with Saddam's regime.  It was the American invasion and the subsequent chaos and violence that gave Al Qaeda and the Sunni jihadists an opening in Iraq.

It reminds me of Nietzsche's statement in Jenseits von Gut und Böse (Beyond Good and Evil):

Wer mit Ungeheuern kämpft, mag zusehn, dass er nicht dabei zum Ungeheuer wird.  Und wenn du lange in einen Abgrund blickst, blickt der Abgrund auch in dich hinein.

[He who fights with monsters should take care that he doesn't become a monster himself in doing so.  And if you look into an abyss for a long time, the abyss is also looking into you.]

I would be reminded of it even more strongly if I thought that Bush had ever actually seriously focused on combatting Al Qaeda and the jihadists threat.  Instead, he has just used 9/11 and Bin Laden as excuses for invading and occupying Iraq, which then had nothing to do with either.

[Later note: The transcript that Daily Kos reproduces here includes the following sentence that was not in the Post transcript designated as an 8:11PM (EDT) text on which I relied for the above:  "And to those watching tonight who are considering a military career, there is no higher calling than service in our Armed Forces."  The ABC video of the speech also includes that passage.  So he made at least a passing gesture to volunteering.]