Bush Lowers Temperature of Iraq War Debate

"People should feel comfortable about expressing their opinions about Iraq," Bush said, three days after agreeing with Vice President
Dick Cheney that the critics were "reprehensible."

"The president also praised Rep. John Murtha (news, bio, voting record), D-Pa., as "a fine man" and a strong supporter of the military despite the congressman's call for troop withdrawal as soon as possible."

Wow! What a turn-around. Or should I used one of his own catch phrases from his campaign trail; "Flip-Flop". After spending the entire war disparaging anyone who dared speak out aganst it, or his policies, he's now chaged his mind? Obviously a political move based on his low approval ratings, as well as perhaps finally understanding just what the Democrats were asking for in regards to Iraq. No one suggested literally bringing the troops home this afternoon, but the initial backlash from the loyalists went way overboard, to the point of pure nastyness that I think the Whitehouse realized was going to do more damage than good. And he can't afford any mone damage.

His current policy of just "staying the course", is reminiscent of the reason we stayed so long in Vietnam. The South just wasn't strong enough to turn things over to them completely, was the excuse then, and has been the excuse for Iraq. "Vietnamisation" came to late for Vietnam, so let's not make the same mistake by letting the Iraqi government get too comfortable with our continued level of involvement. They need to realize we're not going to be there for them indefinately, hearing that we'll be there "as long as it takes", "it wouldn't be prudent" to leave just yet, "a thousand points of light".....no, wait, sorry, I was having a flashback to another Bush administration there for a second.

Well, enough of that (for now), on to the rest of the article.....

"Bush ran into stiff resistance from the Chinese to his call for expanding religious freedom and human rights."

Does Bush really think he can tell the international community to go screw itself, whenever they disagree with his policies, throughout his entire term, then expect to get cooperation from them? Just as his trip to South America went unproductive, it looks like this one will too. You simply cannot go around adopting Fascist policies (and attitudes) at home and abroad, not to mention war profiteering, and expect anyone to listen when you talk to them about free trade, democracy, human rights, etc. It looks to them, just like it looks to me; blatantly hypocritical.

Granted, China isn't exactly a friendly ally, but still, can you imagine what they must be saying to themselves about Bush pushing them on human rights, when he himself is actively condoning U.S. torture of suspects (not people proven to be guilty of anything, but just "suspected"), kidnapping people and shipping them off to be totured by others, declaring for himself the right to detain indefinately (and torture) anyone in the world including American citizens he choses to label "enemy combatants", with no accountability? They should listen to him??

If it all wasn't so serious, it would be funny.