People will be making decisions not based upon who has got the biggest gun

Going to a funeral in Iraq must be... different. “I’m going in to mourn. Cover me!”

From the BBC, the segue of the week:

In the worst attack, at least 36 people were killed in a suicide bombing at a Shia funeral north of Baghdad. Across Iraq, more than 50 people died.

In Washington, President George Bush said the plan in Iraq was going well.

Indeed. In a variation on the popular children’s game “Telephone,” George Bush was given a national security briefing today, and then had to give us a briefing on the briefing. Hilarity ensued.


Wonkette:

From the sounds of things, each Pentagon briefing is much the same as all the others -- freedom is marching, constant elections will soon replace potable water as a source of refreshment, a new Middle Eastern government based on Sharia law is just what the American taxpayers wanted, the Iraqi forces are well on their way to retaking Hadrian’s Wall from the Celtic hordes, et cetera, ad infinitum, with liberty and justice for all, strategery.

Bush:

During our briefing we talked about the areas of concern in this global war on terror, recognizing that the enemy, which has an ideology of hate and a desire to kill, lurks in parts around the world. I assured the generals that this administration would do everything in our power to bring these enemies to justice.

Wouldn’t it be funny if these meetings were actually just like Bush describes them? If the generals really did talk about the enemy having a desire to kill and lurking in parts around the world, and he really did assure the generals that etcetera?

Says that what will no doubt be endless haggling to form a new Iraqi government will show that “people will be making decisions not based upon who has got the biggest gun [I think George has just unwittingly revealed something about himself we didn’t need to know], but who has got the capacity to rally the will of the people. And that’s positive.” Professor Bush’s PolySci -101 seminar continued:

Democracies yield an ideology that is based on an ideology that says, people are free -- free to choose. The ideology of the enemy says, a few people will choose, and if you don’t like what we tell you to believe in, we’ll kill you, or -- or treat you harshly.

I note a bit of rhetoric creep: “artificial” timetables to withdraw troops from Iraq has become “false political timetables.”

He demonstrates his eerie ability to get inside the enemy’s head: “See, al Qaeda thinks they can use Iraq as a safe haven from which to launch attacks. That’s their stated objective. I’m not making this up.”