Four More Wars
I didn’t want to watch Bush’s State of the Union Address, but I wound up sitting through it anyhow. Usually I’ll start cringing early on during a Dubya speech, and this one was no different—except that this time I was shocked not just at his woeful inadequacies as a public speaker (I stopped counting after he mispronounced nuclear for the third time), but at his gleeful warmongering and posturing. He actually used the word “evil” to describe Iran, Iraq and North Korea, calling them an “axis of evil, aiming to threaten the peace of the world.” Call me naive, but I thought U.S. relations with Iran and North Korea had been improving recently. Isn’t the point to try and make fewer enemies? And Iraq shouldn’t even be an issue anymore, except that George the 1st wasn’t able to finish the job.
Reaction from the evil countries was swift and, I think, dead-on.
Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan: “This statement of President Bush is stupid and a statement that does not befit the leader of the biggest state in the world.”
Iran Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi: “The Islamic Republic of Iran considers these remarks as interference in its internal affairs.”
The statement from a North Korean spokesman made me shiver: “This is, in fact, little short of declaring a war against the DPRK… [The United States] has pushed the situation to the brink of war after throwing away even the mask of dialogue and negotiations.”
One war wasn’t enough for Bush Sr. to win re-election, so Junior is figuring he’ll up the ante. And yet he gets good marks for his address and his approval ratings are through the roof. Looks like his plan is working.