by Michael Shannon

OpEdNews.Com

The contrast could not be more startling or more telling. On the very day that Richard Clarke had the strength of character and the professional integrity to proclaim before the entire nation that he -- and the administration of which he was a key player -- had failed the American people, the man who heads that very administration, George Bush, the man with whom the ultimate responsibility for its' actions and their effect supposedly ultimately lies, was getting a cheap laugh by telling a despicable and sophomoric joke about the hunt for his mythic Holy Grail: Iraqi Weapons of Mass Destruction.

What does it say about our government that the man who was forced to resign his position faced his most bitter public failure with class and dignity, while the other who continues to occupy the highest office in that government dismisses his failures with arrogant contempt for its' victims?

To even further highlight this shameful dichotomy: On the very day that Mr Bush was making this despicable attempt at humor three more American soldiers met an untimely and violent death 10,000 miles from home. Young men who had most likely never been within a country mile of a black tie dinner. Young men who thought that they were fulfilling a noble and just cause. Young men who now lie dead, only to be mourned by those who knew and loved them.

These and other wholly ill advised utterances are not kin to the ever growing legion of Bush's legendary malapropisms and mangled syntax -- those are merely windows into a sorely underdeveloped intellect -- these comments are a window into his soul. A soul which when bared shows a callous disregard for those who pay the "full measure for their devotion."

If Mr Bush had an iota of compassion for the human suffering that his decisions have wrought he would beg the forgiveness of all those whose sacrifice and pain he so smugly mocks. That he does not and will not is most telling of all.

contact Mike at shnnn613@cs.com