Exercising new freedoms

Bush’s radio address today repeated the line I quoted in my last post about who the enemy are in Iraq. It’s hard to know how much is just speechifyin’ and how much is complete lack of interest in how other people view the world, but how can he fight an enemy he doesn’t comprehend? In Vietnam, the Americans were confident they were winning because they didn’t understand how the guerillas saw that conflict. Bush says, “The terrorists know that Iraq is a central front in the war on terror, because they know that a stable and democratic Iraq will deal a severe blow to their ideology of oppression and fear.” Does he think the insurgents view it as a “war on terror” or think in terms of “central fronts” in such a war? that they sit around a table like Bond villains, cackling maniacally and talking about how to spread their “ideology of oppression and fear”? Does he understand, in fact, that the enemy don’t consider themselves to be stock villains in his little morality play?

Bush: “Last year, they tried to delay the transfer of sovereignty to Iraq -- and failed.” Really, they tried to delay a content-free photo op?

Bush: “the free world will continue to stand behind the Iraqi people.” Now, using them as human shields just isn’t very nice, George.

“Each day, Iraqis are exercising new freedoms that they were denied for decades. Schools, hospitals, roads, and post offices are being built to serve the needs of all Iraqis.” Standing on line at the post office is exercising new freedom?

(Update: Ooo, maybe they have a choice between the thin Elvis stamp and the fat Elvis stamp.)