Boy, George

In many ways I'm not all that political of a person. Not really by choice -- it's not that I'm not interested in these things. I watch the news, read websites, read magazines, try to keep current on everything that is going on. But, I am cursed and blessed by the ability to see every issue from at least 2 angles, probably more. It kind of keeps me from being able to jump in on any one side. . . it's this sentiment that is expressed in the song Fanatic.

So even though it's been fashionable to speak out against George W, I've been hesitant to do so, because to me it's just been the same roles being played by seperate sides as when Clinton was in office. It's been that political, in my mind. Republicans automatically hated Clinton. And democrats automatically hate Bush. And the funny thing is, Clinton was much more conservative then people realized (welfare reform, pledging our troops to wars around the world, etc), while Bush is much more liberal than most people realize (liberalizing immigration laws, spending so much on health care. . .)

For a while I thought that Bush was good for the country for a couple of reasons.

1.) Because he was hated so much, he energized the protesters. Instead of being numbed by the seemingly progressive Clinton administration, during which pushes for social change were few and far between, even though the need for it was just as pressing, you see large groups of people mobilized to push for change, to get involved. While I don't agree with every cause, I think the country benefits by protest, it keeps the country from drifting too far in either direction.

2.) He lowered taxes. And when you're paying a lot of taxes, this is appreciated. I really don't think the government does a good job with our money, and shouldn't be trusted with much of it. I also do think that getting more money into the economy rather then the treasury does benefit the economy.

But now I have to say that he probably isn't very good for the country. I'm not going to personally attack him. I honestly think he is an honorable man who is motivated by what he believes is the right thing to do.

BUT. I'm sorry, but anyone who has seen the pictures of what some (granted a very small amount) of our troops have been doing in Iraq to prisoners has to be ashamed to be an American. This is amazingly, terribly embarrassing. This is not something that you'd think (or would want to think) that US troops would do. This is the kind of thing that Bush said that Saddam's regime did -- part of the reason we went in there (supposedly).

And I have to now say, I think that Bush's administration has made me less safe, has made all American's less safe around the world. My goodness, if seeing these pictures makes me feel so bad, what will it make a fundamentalist Islamic feel? Pure hatred, I've no doubt. And while I wouldn't excuse the violence they might commit, I'd have to say I'd understand it. . .

A naked man, dragged on a leash, held by a woman. If we want the Arab world to hate us, we've managed to release the most humiliating, dehumanizing images. . . "this is what Americans think of us. . ."

It justifies all of the things that Osama says about us. That we're only in Iraq to flex our imperialistic muscle. That we aren't liberators, we're occupiers. My goodness, we're worse than occupiers, we're torturers.

I know, it's not all of our military. It's not even 1/2 of 1 percent. It's maybe only 7 people.

But come on, the way they took pictures of it, the way they made a record of it, are you going to tell me that they didn't have some superior officers' tacit approval of this? And if that superior officer wasn't nervous enough to want to destroy any evidence of this behavior, then guess what? For some reason that superior officer wasn't fearful of reprisals from their superiors. Maybe because it was an accepted, yet unspoken, interrogation technique.. . . And it goes on and on to the top. This is why I ultimately blame Bush. Rumsfield is his guy. And the military is his.

I think that Bush put the wrong people around him. Rumsfield, Cheney, the Neo-cons. . . and I think he has lost me.