Why is Bush Prolonging the War in Iraq?

When pondering complex issues, the simplest motives, reasons, solutions or explanations usually turn out to be at the center of the matter. Although George W. Bush has given every indication that he is insane, is mentally challenged, is delusional, is narcissistic, is paranoid and that he believes God appointed him and him alone to eradicate evil from the world by whatever means may be necessary. Still, those flaws in the president’s hardwiring do not answer the question: Why is the president prolonging the war in Iraq? This morning, Frank Rich answered that question in his New York Times Op/Ed article. “This president is never one to let facts get in the way of a political agenda. That agenda is to avoid taking responsibility for losing a war, no matter how many more Americans are tossed into its carnage.” The Bush administration’s rationale for attacking Iraq has been a work in progress since the day the Prez announced his intention to “disarm Iraq”. Fighting terrorism is only the latest justification. And it’s “hooey, of course,” Rich notes. “Not only did Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia not exist before we invaded Iraq in 2003, but it isn't even the chief organizer of the war's mayhem today. ABC News reported this month that this group may be responsible for no more than 15 percent of the attacks in Iraq. Bob Woodward wrote in The Washington Post on Thursday that Michael Hayden, the C.I.A. director, told Mr. Bush last November that Al Qaeda was only the fifth most pressing threat in Iraq, after the insurgency, sectarian strife, criminality and general anarchy.” Protecting the United States from terrorist attacks is of no importance whatsoever to George W. Bush. If it were, Rich says, the Bush administration would be concentrating on the Al Qaeda havens in Pakistan and North Africa which actually do represent a threat to the US. Al Qaeda in Iraq and Al Qaeda being responsible for 9/11 are non-issues. And yet, Rich points out, there has been a “sudden uptick in references to Al Qaeda in the president's speeches about Iraq — 27 in a single speech on June 28 — and an equal decline in references to the Sunni-Shiite sectarian violence at the heart of the Iraqi civil war America is powerless to stop. Even more incriminating was Mr. Landay’s (McClatchy newspapers’ Jonathan Landay) discovery that the military was following Mr. Bush's script verbatim. There were 33 citations of Al Qaeda in a single week's worth of military news releases in late June, up from only 9 such mentions in May...From here on in, you can be sure that whomever we're fighting in Iraq on any given day will be no more than one degree of separation from bin Laden,” And the Bush script is, of course, bullshit. George Bush has one interest, and that is to prolong the war until he’s out of office. And the Republicans in Congress, who have based their careers on backing the Bush administration’s plan to take over the Middle East, have only one interest. And that is to make it seem as though the US has good reasons for having attacked Iraq and for staying in Iraq, in order that they may keep their jobs. And what about the 3613 American soldiers who have died for this bogus war? The president and the GOP have as little concern for our troops as they have for the millions of children from low-income families who have been given medical help through the Children's Health Insurance Program. The program will expire this year and President Bush plans to veto any renewal because it will cost too much money,