April 5, 2006 at 23:00:00

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By Missy Comley Beattie (about the author) Page 1 of 1 page(s)

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For OpEdNews: Missy Comley Beattie - Writer

I hope someone counted the number of times George W. Bush said 9/11 and Iraq in the same sentence during his speech today in North Carolina. I couldn't because I was unwilling to watch the entire performance. Enough is enough is enough. It's the same old push, the tired words that fewer and fewer believe.

This much I did hear:

"We must defeat the enemy overseas so we won't face them here." The people of Iraq were not the enemy, although many most certainly are now, since we've dropped white phosphorous, a chemical banned by international law, leveled their cities, and killed thousands of civilians, including children. Collateral damage.

"Iraq is the front in the war on terror. The enemy has made it so." Actually, the United States opened the borders to foreign terrorists when we invaded Iraq. Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden were enemies.

"I saw a threat in Iraq." Hans Blix reported a month before the invasion that: "We have conducted more than 400 inspections covering more than 300 sites..." In a previous report, Blix said that access was provided to all sites.

"We value human life whether it be abroad or here at home." Just ask the victims of Katrina how much they're valued. And ask the survivors of our attacks on houses where our intelligence has indicated terrorist presence in Iraq. Talk with the women of Iraq who have seen their children bloodied by our weapons. If Bush valued human life, he'd have chosen peace. No Child Left Behind wouldn't be a failure. All of us would have health care. And the gap between the rich and poor wouldn't be growing.

"Putting those kids in harm's way is a tough, difficult decision. So I went with diplomacy." Lie, lie, lie. So many documents and memos have surfaced providing irrefutable proof that Bush was determined to go to war in Iraq regardless of the advice from experts about WMD--regardless of what was revealed by weapons inspectors. The president has shown a callousness towards our troops that is criminal. Sending them to fight an illegal, unnecessary war is one atrocity. Sending an insufficient number of troops once the horrendous decision was made is another. But don't forget the insufficient armor and the statement by Rumsfeld: "As you know, you go to war with the Army you have, not the Army you want." This is reprehensible. Because when Rummy and Rice go to Iraq unannounced, they are in vehicles impregnable to powerful weapons and they are transported to the safety of the Green Zone. Now, about those diplomatic efforts. Does Bush think we're stupid? George has a diplomacy deficit.

"My biggest job is to protect the American people." We have only to look at the mayhem during and after Katrina to disprove this assertion. Plus, we know the findings of the 9/11 Commission that gave the administration so many failing grades on security. Our borders are porous and our ports are vulnerable.

"September 11. I've never forgotten that day." But he's forgotten Osama. And he continues to stroke the Saudis. Remember that most of the hijackers came from Saudi Arabia. Not one was from Iraq.

I really don't need to go on. We've heard all this before. Nothing new. Yawn. Surely, this speech won't bolster support for a war that even William Buckley is calling a failure.

What I do need to write is this: I'm sorry. This article is a yawner. Bush has said all this time and again. And I've written the same rebuttals to his worn out pronouncements before. Yawn.

I'm awake! I've just been told that L. "Scooter" Libby has revealed that George Bush authorized the leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame.

Gold Star Families for Peace are demanding the resignations of George Bush, Dick Cheney, and every person in the administration whose lies resulted in the unnecessary deaths of our loved ones.

Missy Beattie lives in New York City. She's written for National Public Radio and Nashville Life Magazine. An outspoken critic of the Bush Administration and the war in Iraq, she's a member of Gold Star Families for Peace. She completed a (more...)

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