Iraq: Is It Worth It?- Jim Hightower

July 17, 2005

c

Fri, 15 Jul 2005 20:25:37 -0700 (PDT)

Iraq: Is It Worth It?

You know that George W's war policy is in trouble when he has to make

a televised address to the nation to asks beseechingly: " Is it worth it? "

Then he had to rush to answer his own question, apparently sensing

that millions of families all across America were instinctively

answering it for themselves in the negative. So Bush desperately - but

not convincingly - said: " It is worth it. "

By nature, Americans want to rally 'round a president who pleads for

support. Their only real question is, support for what? The Bushites

keep changing their answer to this one, losing more credibility with

each revision. First, it was to stop Saddam Hussein from hitting us

with WMDs, which turn out to be non-existent. Next, it was to install

a democratic government, which turns out to be a mess, costing us

1,700 lives and more than $100 billion already. Now, in his latest

speech, Desperate George has resorted to wrapping himself up in the

bloody flag of 9/11, saying his Iraq adventure is all about those

terrorists, even though Saddam and Iraq had nothing whatsoever to do

with 9/11.

I sense that even Bush doubts that it's worth it. He bought into the

hubris of the inept neocon ideologues who assured him Iraq would be a

snap. But now Rummy is saying we'll be tied down there for 12 years or

so, costing us more lives and treasure. Is it worth that?

Bush pleaded in his speech that Iraq is absolutely crucial to

America's national interest. But if it's crucial, shouldn't all of us

be enlisted in the war effort? And shouldn't there be a war tax to pay

for it, rather than blithely shoving the rising war debt to future

generations?

This is Jim Hightower saying... These steps would be enormously

unpopular, however, since most Americans really don't think that Iraq

is worth personal sacrifices by their own families.

Consequently, Bush refuses to make such a tough political call -

because he doesn't think Iraq is worth that, either.

Vote They Would Have Given Us Candidates, " is available in a fully

revised and updated paperback edition.

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