Bush’s latest twist on terrorists

We are in Iraq, said President Bush today in a news conference, because our task is to “work to change the conditions that moved 19 kids to come on airplanes to murder our citizens…. I could not send a mother’s child into combat if I did not believe it was necessary.”

Thus the 9/11 hijackers have morphed from 19 “evil-doers,” the agents of a totalitarian ideology aimed at destroying our society, into 19 confused “kids” in need of international social work to change the “conditions” that drove them to kill. Bush is certainly a model of steady, dependable leadership, isn’t he? How many more months is it that we must endure before this megalomaniacal doofus leaves the White House?

* * *

But really, Bush is not being inconsistent at all. He’s being perfectly consistent—with the fundamental contradiction that has characterized his “war on terror” from the start, the contradiction between what we might call “conservatism” and “compassion.” Bush tells us we’re at “war, war, war,” and that our object is “victory,” getting us all fervent and patriotic for the great cause, but then he adds that “victory” in this war will be achieved through the Muslims choosing to adopt democracy. But—the thought intrudes—what if they don’t choose democracy? Then victory is not in our hands to achieve, is it? Or, he tells us we’re at “war, war, war,” while adding that “victory” in this war is defined by changing the “conditions” that turn kids into terrorists. But of course social work is not war. War means using deadly force against people, firing hot pieces of metal into the bodies of enough of them until they lose the will or ability to fight you. Social work means helping people, giving them food, counseling, and job training, in the hope that their behavior will improve and they will become self-sufficient. But what if they don’t become self-sufficient? Then victory is not in our hands to achieve, is it? So all the martial excitement about “war” and “victory” that Bush endlessly stirs and re-stirs in his followers is an exercise in mass delusion.

The contradiction between waging war and practicing liberalism is hopeless, unresolvable. It cannot come to an end so long as Bush—the fount of the confusion—remains in office. And in the meantime, his followers’ devotion to the defense of the Bushian Doublethink continues to destroy, in all of them, the ability to think.

- end of initial entry -

Jacob M. writes:

But wait—aren’t those “kids,” like the 33-year-old “kid” Mohammed Atta, the very offspring of those freedom-and-democracy-loving “moms and dads” Bush is always talking about?

LA replies:

Yeah, that’s a hard one to figure out. All people in the world want good things for their children, and do not want their chidden to grow up to be killers, yet, um, some children do grow up to be killers, and, um, in many cases the parents even celebrate when their children commit terror suicide. So how could this be?

The answer is: despotism and extremism.

He was a clean-cut kid
And they made a killer out of him
That’s what they did

As for the 33-year-old Atta who flew American Airways Flight 11 into the North Tower of the World Trade Center, if I weren’t having trouble uploading images to the site right now, I would post a photo of him and his fellow fiends with Bush’s “19 kids” comment right below it.

It’s got to be something in the Bush genes. In 2000 Bush the elder came up on stage at a campaign event and he referred to GWB as “My boy, here.” His boy! The 54 year old governor of Texas and leading presidential candidate, and he calls him “my boy.” It was a big embarrassment, and I think the campaign shuffled Bush senior aside for a while. And now what does Bush the younger do? He’s talking about the ultimate terror killers in history, and he calls them troubled “kids.” There is a terminal softheadedness in the Bush family.

David B. writes:

GWB’s remark about the “19 kids” is typical Bushspeak. He will soon be saying that the “kids really wanted freedom.” Several years ago, Mr. Sutherland posted on the Forum that both Bushes had an “air of frivolity and lack of seriousness about themselves and the job of President.” Sometimes rich men stay in a state of adolescence. This is typical of athletes and actors, as well. When GHWB did one of his parachute jumps at age 80, his wife Barbara remarked, “I wish he would grow up.”

By the way, I saw a news report today that Bush 41 is “sick” at the criticism and unpopularity of his son.

Howard Sutherland writes:

“Megalomaniacal doofus”: SHACK! (fighter pilot-speak for a bombing direct hit). Best thumbnail sketch of The Decider I’ve seen yet. Also, unlike the “MD”, you seem to understand what war is.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at August 09, 2007 06:31 PM | Send