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11/25/06 |
                                                                                                           
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This was published in the University of Alabama at Birmingham student newspaper, Kaleidoscope in April, 2004, and in abbreviated form in the Birmingham News. In March 2006 I wrote a slightly more favorable view of the Bush administration, in light of the enormous support it has given towards HIV prevention and treatment in Zambia. Interestingly, on July 13th, I received a letter with no return address. It contained a response to my editorials. You can read that response here. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * About three minutes ago, our President, George W. Bush spoke on live television, and took questions from reporters. I sat in my bed, and listened to his arrogance, and found myself talking to the television using words that are unfit for print media. “Bush is an Ass,” I said out loud. “He’s such an Ass,” I repeated later. Print them or not – I don’t care. Bush is an Ass. He looks down at his monitor… “…The person responsible for the attacks was Osama Bin Laden.” Since the debacle of involving the United States in Iraq for a second time in a dozen years, many questions remain unanswered. Questions are unanswered, but worse, more important questions are unasked! For example, here is Question Number One. If Osama Bin Laden is the one we should be directing our attention toward to prevent repeat performances of September 11th, why is our country investing so much in Iraq?! Why did we shift to Iraq so quickly? Conclusions may vary, from oil interests, alluded to in Bush’s comments during the press conference, to completing a father’s unfinished political project. Yours truly, a writer, and a voter, has yet to hear a satisfactory answer to the question of why the United States is in Iraq in response to September 11th. After a price tag decorated with nine figures, can this be justified? After thousands of lives lost…I count Iraqis, too…I’m funny that way…After thousands of lives lost, why is Iraq the number one priority? And why isn’t this question being asked by the leading press figures who dressed their best to be on this live press conference? Why isn’t this question being hammered out on radio, in print, and on the television? He looks down at his monitor… “…We’re not an imperial power.” I don’t like Bush. I can’t stand the sight of him. This has everything to do with his policies and what he does as the executive officer for my country. I simply don’t agree with his priorities. But I also just can’t stand to see his face. As pointed out in the press conference, he has never admitted to making a mistake. The closest he came was this: during the press conference he stuck out his arrogant chin and said that he was confident that he had made a mistake, but he was unable to come up with one given the pressure of the press conference and all. Arrogance! The thing I like least about Bush is this, and I may be wrong, but hear me out. Bush is not a man of substance. I believe, based purely on my subjective observations through the media, that Bush is just a puppet of smarter more ideological, and scarier people than he. Let me tell you what I mean. During the press conference, there was a shot on CNN where you could see the President from slightly behind, and to the side. So you could see the television screens on his podium. I only saw this shot once. But after, I realized that whenever Bush got hung up on a question or a train of thought, he looked down at the podium, and suddenly found key phrases to utter. I believe he was reading from prompters in the podium. If you think this is far-fetched, tell me why? Bush referenced the monitors for his opening speech. He referenced the prompters when he called on reporters by name. Why wouldn’t a presidential candidate, who is six months away from an election, not be as prepared as possible for a live television conference by having a conference room of highly informed aides in an adjacent room, typing away key response phrases that could be fed into his monitors? He looks at the monitor… “…We must do everything in our power.” The only times I heard Bush say things that were clearly his own words were when he talked in ideologies. He looked up and talked about Freedom, and of the Almighty’s gift to us that we are responsible to spread throughout the world. I am a fan of Freedom, and I am benefiting from it in writing this editorial. I can imagine some would say that ideology based on Freedom is substantial, and I agree. However, I think that when actions like the U.S. is undertaking in Iraq are disconnected from ideologies on which they are predicated - when the links between the dots are not clear - I sense a lack of integrity, and I develop a feeling of mistrust. He looks down at his monitor… “…lead the fight against AIDS” I did appreciate the President’s two-second reference to leading the fight against AIDS. It is in this arena that Bush has permitted himself to be led into a direction that is logical, humanitarian, and of utmost importance, in my view. After all, in the time that Bush spent on television last night, 400 new HIV infections occurred globally, and about 300 more people died of AIDS-related disease. Imagine what could be done, how many lives could be saved, and how much good could be done if the resources spent in Iraq were redirected to this mission, or other worthy efforts, which unchecked are resulting in real disease, real deaths, torn families, fragmented societies, instead of potential threats, unrealized warnings, and vanishing weapons of mass destruction. Robert McDonald Birmingham, AL |
This site was last updated 11/25/06