Friday, December 12, 2003

Bush's "peurile taunts"

WaPo's essay about the substance of my "Bring 'em On Redux" post says it all. The "incoherence" of Bush's handling of "postwar" Iraq (in addition, of course, to his monstrous invasion in the first place) has finally gained some traction.

Maybe the Bush-lovers don't care how many young Americans die in Afghanistan and Iraq, or how many Afghanis and Iraqis are killed by our troops. Maybe they don't care how mad it is to try to impose our version of democracy on a populace that yearns to govern itself, in its own way. Maybe they don't care how many tax dollars are burned up in support of our supposed war on terr'r. But this, by God, they care about: Fraud, corruption and waste of our tax dollars.

Here's what I think. This Halliburton/BKR overcharge issue is going to open up the entire question of the misuse of our money in Iraq, the failure to use Iraqis and their business for rebuilding, the skimming of dollars for unnecessary bureaucracy and paperwork, etc. I think we have a real scandal in the making, which, together with the rebuff Bush gave to France, Germany, Russia and Canada in the rebuilding contracts, could turn the tide against this most ugly event in American history.