"War critics can no longer credibly argue that we are losing in Iraq, so now they argue the war costs too much." President Bush March 19, 2008
Read that again. He's saying it today, the fifth anniversary of a war that in his own words means we were losing four out of those five years.
"War critics can no longer credibly argue that we are losing in Iraq..."
He now admits that those who questioned what he and his cronies had been touting for at least the first four years - that things in Iraq were going swimmingly - were right. Those who talk show Lords of Loud had called Defeatocrats and underminers of the military were, in fact, "credible."
WE WERE LOSING.
The President says so...now
For those who, like Bill O'Reilly, who ask for proof that the President had lied, now have it. From his own mouth.
For the first four years, he was LYING.
If the president is not lying now and my math is right, that means he lied for 80% of the war.
What would you call a person who lies about something 80% of the time?
But even if he is telling the truth now, it's a truth that is nauseatingly offensive.
"No one would argue that this war has not come at a high cost in lives and treasure, but those costs are necessary when we consider the cost of a strategic victory for our enemies in Iraq."
Mr. President...Are you saying your wholesale mismanagement of this war makes all the lives and treasures lost still "necessary"?
What a colossal insult to those soldiers and families whose losses were "necessary;" to those countless Iraqi civilians who lost lives and livelihood.
You may not be crazy, but you are cold beyond words. Beyond your own words.
March 19th means different things to different people. To those looking forward to Spring vacation, March 19 is the last day of the winter. To Hungarians, March 19 is the day that German forces occupied Hungary. To hotels and gamblers anonymous, March 19 is the day wagering was legalized in Nevada. To me, March 19 is my lovely wife's birthday. And being the true Philly guy, to celebrate, my thirteen year old son and I will be going to the Wachovia Center to catch Allen Iverson's first return to the Philadelphia in a visitor's jersey.
And, to some, it means we've been in Iraq for five years.
Five years and nearly 40,000 wounded (Pentagon #s) Americans.
Five years and nearly 90,000 Iraqi civilian deaths (Pentagon #s).
Five years and nearly 5,000,000 (35%) Iraqi children are orphans.
Five years and nearly 4,000,000 Iraq refugees.
The most difficult number to grasp is that on March 19th at a cost of $3,000,000,000,000 (the Bush Administration said it would run about $50,000,000....Hey, what's six zeros?) to find 0 weapons of mass destruction (Pentagon #s) and 0 Iraq and Al Quaeda connections (Pentagon #s), we have suffered nearly 4,000 American soldiers' deaths. Not numbers. Men and women.
And on this March 19th, our compassionate conservative president says that it was all necessary.
Later, after his speech, President Bush will dine and sleep well.
Tonight, will you be able to keep your food down?
Will you be able to sleep?
Steve Young is author of "Great Failures of the Extremely Successful."