I've been thinking about it all day. Today marks the anniversary of our Invasion of Iraq. Today begins our fourth year of war there. We can debate this issue and I suspect some of us will. But one man has emerged today and earned this distinction.
Today I want to talk about President George W. Bush.
Today a normal looking sane sounding logical and articulate man asked the President the following question, and I'm paraphrasing: "Mr. President, you led us into Iraq on the following three premises. That Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, that they had aided the terrorist attacks on September 11, and purchased nuclear weapon making capability from Niger. All three of these turned out to be false. How is America ever going to be able to trust our leaders again?" W. said, and I'm paraphrasing: "Uh...ah, well...mmm...Saddam didn't order the attacks on 9/11. Uh...(grunt)...hee, hee...mmm...everybody thought there were weapons of mass destrcution...he was a bad bad man...uh...mmm...(grunt) killed his own people...the Iraqi people are better off today....hee, hee...democracy good...terrorists bad...God bless America!" 
See the truth is I don't think W. is a bad guy, just an idoit. And if he's not an idiot, he is a very bad guy. We spent millions of dollars, huge amounts of time and energy, and five years determining if Clinton lied about his liason with Monica Lewinsky. And the moment he lied about it he proved he wasn't a great leader, only one with lots of potential and obvious flaws. And many of the same people who tout how great a leader Bush is hung him for it. Yet, here is a man who has yet to sell us straight on the reasons we went to war and need to still be there and he's a moral leader? Leadership can't be out and out contempt for people's ability to see the genuine article. Integrity has to still count for something. And I don't even think he was the main reason we went to war, trust me I could wind up giving the whole administration individual awards for idiocy and misleading, but he is responsible. He asked for and won the job.
2,307 soldiers have died since March 20, 2003. There are offically 17,004 wounded soldiers, and that number could be as high as 48,000.
Estimates of civillian deaths in Iraq range from 33,700 to 37,800.
There may be a good reason to be in Iraq. Perhaps we have freed them and given them the best shot for democracy and prosperity. But we were misled. This is the main reason i voted for Frankenstein for President. As Jon Stewart put it, and I've heard Barack Obama say it as well.
"If we were all riding in a bus together and the driver put the bus into a ditch for no good reason, when it came time to pick a new driver, why would we pick that same guy? He's the one that put us in the ditch!"
Are there evil people in the world that need dealt with? Absolutely. Is President Bush evil. No, I think he's just shortsighted and simple minded. There is a cost to war. And there is a cost to leadership. You have to be accountable. So today, knowing full well the problems with the theory, but being convinced he has earned the distinction, I present W. with
THE DICK CHENEY HUNTING BUDDY AWARD
in recognition of lacking leadership and character in the face of real decisions with real consequences. Maybe the shot won't kill him (cause the VP is even scarier, which I think will be proved in a few scrolls) but will instead knock some sense into him.
Dick Cheney-making the world a safer place-one asshole at a time.Some final thoughts I found useful...
"A single lie destroys a whole reputation for integrity." - Baltasar Gracian
"Leadership is a combination of strategy and character. If you must be without one, be without the strategy." - Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf
"Example is not the main thing in influencing others, it is the only thing." - Albert Schweitzer
May we find leaders worthy of our country's highest ideals, not its lowest.
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