Then.... Now.... 4-07-2004 GRIEF-stricken US Marines huddle together in prayer over the body of a dead pal yesterday. For a few precious moments of mourning the tough troopers turned from the fury of battle at Fallujah to bid him farewell. The Marines had fought hard to keep their buddy alive. They had bound his head wound after he was hit by shrapnel, then defied enemy fire to carry him to a first-aid post. But nothing could save him.
"Mission Accomplished": Anatomy of a Deadly Lie BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS Media strategists noted afterward that Mr. Sforza and his aides had choreographed every aspect of the event, even down to the members of the Lincoln crew arrayed in coordinated shirt colors over Mr. Bush's right shoulder and the "Mission Accomplished" banner placed to perfectly capture the president and the celebratory two words in a single shot. The speech was specifically timed for what image makers call "magic hour light," which cast a golden glow on Mr. Bush. (http://edition.cnn.com/2003/US/05/16/nyt.bumiller) Recent books by Joe Conason, Al Franken and David Corn have documented how Bush is a serial liar. When BuzzFlash interviewed Molly Ivins awhile back, we thought that she was quite fair to Bush. She didn't jump on the bandwagon of people who claim he is dumb. But she did, almost casually, state: "What we did was just look at Bush's record in "Shrub." And consequently, I think we were less surprised than anybody in America when Bush started governing from lies." (http://www.buzzflash.com/interviews/03/07/10_ivins.html) The right wing extremists and "good Christians" tolerate Bush's lies for different reasons, which we won't get into at this time. And no doubt, there are some naive Americans who believe that "God's chosen President" couldn't lie because he was anointed, as Bush claims, by the Lord Almighty. But the reality is that Bush can't STOP lying. In fact, he almost never tells the truth. He has, as we noted in the title of a BuzzFlash editorial, made presidential lying seem banal (http://www.buzzflash.com/editorial/03/07/18.html) when it is, in actuality, the betrayal of a nation. Many of the lies that led us into Iraq have been thoroughly documented at this point -- and these are only the tip of the iceberg. Yet, the mainstream media doesn't, in general, believe that these lies -- that are tantamount to treason -- are worthy of front page news coverage. And the culture of deception and prevarication pervades his entire administration. Just look at the 60 Minutes II story a short time ago, when an aide to Colin Powell charged that the American Secretary of State knowingly lied in his infamous U.N. speech "justifying" the war with Iraq. That story hardly penetrated even one news cycle. So, today, Bush lied about his most grandstanding, insulting, ego-tripping stunt: his "Mission Accomplished" appearance aboard the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln. In his October 28th "news conference," President Pinocchio claimed: "The 'Mission Accomplished' sign, of course, was put up by the members of the USS Abraham Lincoln, saying that their mission was accomplished," Bush said. "I know it was attributed somehow to some ingenious advance man from my staff â they weren't that ingenious, by the way." That, of course, was a lie. The people who clean up Bush's lies -- the ones who would follow an elephant in a circus with brooms and garbage bags for the droppings -- quickly tried to repair the damage with a parsing of Bush's statement that was clearly laughable, if the stakes weren't so high: "After the news conference, a White House spokeswoman said the Lincoln's crew asked the White House to have the sign made. The White House asked a private vendor to produce the sign, and the crew put it up, said the spokeswoman. She said she did not know who paid for the sign." [LINK] Since the White House put up the "Mission Accomplished" banner, 217 American soldiers have died in Iraq (http://lunaville.org/warcasualties/Summary.aspx), many more than died before his hideous Hollywood-theatrical appearance on the aircraft carrier. Hundreds of our soldiers have been wounded since he appeared under that White House conceived and made sign. The AWOL Chickenhawk, who let other young men die in his place in Vietnam, pretended he was top gun, but he's always AWOL from the truth." ...cont. http://www.buzzflash.com/analysis/03/10/ana03291.html
meanwhile, as soldiers get blown to bits in the desert and iraq descends into chaos.... Hunters, Conservationists Get Tour of Bush Ranch Thu Apr 8, 4:45 PM By Jeremy Pelofsky CRAWFORD, Texas (Reuters) - President Bush (news - web sites) on Thursday opened his expansive central Texas ranch to sporting aficionados and conservation groups, including the National Rifle Association, Ducks Unlimited and Pheasants Forever. Bush showed off the scenic canyons, streams and trails of his 1,600-acre Prairie Chapel ranch property to 23 representatives of the organizations, a spokeswoman said. At least one of the groups, the powerful NRA gun lobby, has been a big supporter of Bush and the Republican Party, giving almost $390,000 in the 2004 election cycle so far, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. During the private tour, Bush spokeswoman Claire Buchan said he wanted to discuss his clean air, wetlands and healthy forests initiatives in addition to showing off the energy conservation features of his home and the native grasses that have been replanted.
And the BEST part of all of this . . . Is that the Iraqi's just can't wait to embrace Democracy come the end of June! They will really love us then!!! :eek: