Yesterday, John Kerry teetered on the same slippery slope that he had found himself during the 2004 campaign. The thin line between not supporting the Bush administration's war in Iraq, while at the same time supporting the men and women in uniform serving our country and being sacrificed in Iraq.
KERRY
"You know education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. And if you don't, you get stuck in Iraq," he said.
Undoubtedly a conspicuous statement, considering that it appears to be saying that if you don't do your homework, or make an effort to be smart you will end up on the rudderless ship called the U.S. military captained by our clueless Commander and chief, and set adrift on the tumultuous open sea called Iraq.
For better or worse, John Kerry has again taken the center stage and now has the opportunity to invoke (in no uncertain terms) the notion of a referendum on George Bush and the "Rubberstamp Republicans", and thier "STAY THE COURSE" strategy in Iraq.
ABC NEWS REPORTS:
It was a rhetorical gift for the embattled Republican Party, which is eager to run against Kerry again. The White House, in an unusual move, notified the media ahead of time that the president would address Kerry's comment in remarks at today's campaign rally in Georgia.
"I believe Sen. Kerry owes an apology to many thousands of Americans serving in Iraq, who answered their country's call," said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., campaigning in Indiana.
Shortly before noon Tuesday, Kerry, a Vietnam veteran, responded, insisting in a statement that he had not belittled the intelligence of soldiers serving in Iraq, but rather that of "the president who got us stuck there."
During the 2004 campaign Bush steered the American public with his "STAY THE COURSE" rhetoric, convincing the American public that "Our Strategy Is Working", that "fighting terroism is HARD WORK", and frequently invoked notions of "turning the corner" in Iraq.
Additionally Bush subtly changed the rational in Iraq from "an Imminent threat to the U.S." (a claim that had already been disproven) to the need to stamp out the tyrannical regime of Saddam (who was believed to be a state sponsor of terrorism). Additionally there was the newly defined emphasis on the idea of spreading Democracy and "FREEDOM" in the Middle East. Furthermore, it was said Iraq was "the central front in the global war on terror".
Bush's rhetoric proved to be successful even though the pretext of the war in IRAQ (i.e. that there was an "IMMINENT THREAT" to the U.S. from Sadaam Hussain (i.e. "a GRAVE AND GATHERING DANGER") who had stock piles of WMD at his diposal, had already been proven false.
Additionally, even though the situation in Iraq had demonstrated no visible signs of improvement, and moreover, the situation had even appeared at that time to be deteriorating into a full blown civil war, the Bush administration remained calm suggesting that the increasing violence could easily be explained as a desperate last attempt by the insurgents, that the insurgency was in fact "IN ITS LAST THROES"
Yet, a full two years later the American public has an opportunity to hold George Bush and his "rubberstamp" friends accountable for the course in which they have steered us.
Steering is the bringing-into-control of a movment. A ship without a rudder and helmsman is a plaything of the waves and winds. A ship at sea is forcibly brought into the desired course only through steering. Steering is an intervening, transfiguring movement that compells the ship along a specific course. Furthermore steering is characterized by coercive and precalculated regulation. The helmsman of a ship is a man of skill. He knows his way about the tides and winds. He must make use of the driving wind and the tide in the correct manner. Through his steering he removes the ship coercively from the play of winds and waves.
"We're on the verge of chaos, and the current plan is not working," Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said in an Associated Press interview.
CNN reports:
White House press secretary Tony Snow said..that Bush no longer is saying that the United States will "stay the course" in Iraq.
"He stopped using it," Snow said of that phrase, adding that it left the impression that the administration was not adjusting its strategy to realities in Baghdad.
"I know many Americans are not satisfied with the situation in Iraq," Bush said in a White House news conference. "I'm not satisfied either."
The president also expressed confidence in Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's understanding that the best way to fight the war is "to make sure our troops are ready, that morale is high, that we transform the nature of our military to meet the threats, and that we give our commanders on the ground the flexibility necessary to make the tactical changes to achieve victory."
Bush conceded that victory is "going to take a long time"
Bush explained that despite dropping the war's "stay the course" rallying cry, the objective remains the same even if the tactics may vary.
"Our goals are unchanging. We are flexible in our methods to achieving those goals," Bush said.
However, against the will the White House, the American public is already recieving information that the fundamental goals of the Bush Administration will soon be modified again.
The chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence has proposed a sweeping inquiry into the possible leak of a classified National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq.
At issue is the leak of selected contents, harmful to the Bush administration, of a classified National Intelligence Estimate from April titled "Trends of Global Terrorism." The New York Times first published a story about the NIE, with the headline "Spy Agencies Say Iraq War Worsens Terrorism Threat," on Sept. 23
Predictably, according to a NIE report the Bush administration's attack on Iraq has actually increased the capacities of Global Terrorism by destabilizing the region. Yet one of the stated goals of the National strategy for victory in Iraq was to reduce Global terrorism by engaging the Terrorist in Iraq.
Secondly, after over 4 years of conflict in Iraq, Bush's idea of installing a democracy in Iraq has been revealed to be the idle wish fantasy that it always was.
However, contrary to the intelligence estimates, and the situation on the ground, George W. Bush has informed us that the goals haven't changed. And so all the American public are left with is the ambiguous, but emotional goal to "Win" in Iraq.
Thus, if it is true that steering is a precalculated coercion, and yet almost all of the Bush administration's calculations have already been proven to be false, then the American public has the duty to ask where is this course taking us and our distinguished military?
From 2004 we have learned that George Bush is much more successful at steering public opinion than he is steering the course in Iraq.
Yet tragically, it makes no difference if the coercion is not felt by the ones overpowered, it is still coercion.
George Bush chided Kerry for his "shameful" remarks yesterday that suggested that those in the military are uneducated, yet it is George Bush who expects his soldiers to die for a cause which was based on a false pretext, it is George Bush who expects his soldiers to die for a war which has no goal, and it is George W. Bush who expects his soldiers to die for a war which has no end.
How incredibly stupid does George W. Bush think the Military is? Shame on him.