[Mb-civic] Deranged, Disconnected, and Dangerous By William Rivers Pitt

[Michael Butler]

    Deranged, Disconnected, and Dangerous
    By William Rivers Pitt
    t r u t h o u t | Perspective

    Friday 17 March 2006

    There was an article in the Washington Post ten days ago that, was, in
no uncertain terms, the most frightening and disturbing report I have seen
in months. It wasn't about mass casualties in Iraq, or about a looming civil
war there, or about terrorism, or the bursting budget, or spying on
Americans. It was about a rug.

    "Nothing says power like the Oval Office," begins the article. "The
paintings of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. The bust of Dwight D.
Eisenhower. The desk used by both Roosevelts. And then there's the rug.
Don't forget the rug. President Bush never does. For whatever reason, Bush
seems fixated on his rug. Virtually all visitors to the Oval Office find him
regaling them about how it was chosen and what it represents. Turns out, he
always says, the first decision any president makes is what carpet he wants
in his office. As a take-charge leader, he then explains, he of course made
a command decision - he delegated the decision to Laura Bush, who chose a
yellow sunbeam design."

    The article goes on to describe, in writhing detail, how George W. Bush
inserts the Oval Office rug into virtually every conversation he has. If a
discussion veers away into matters of import, Bush steers it back to the
rug. "He loves his rug," said Nicolle Wallace, the White House
communications director, in the Post article. "I've heard him describe it
countless times."

    The article, to be sure, was meant to be lighthearted. It left me,
however, in a state of deep disturbance. All he can talk about is his rug?
With everything that is going on these days, he wants to focus on the rug.
Dead soldiers? Rug. Civil war? Rug. Complete and total failure? Complete and
total rug.

    The man is deranged, disconnected, dangerous. It appears, finally, that
a significant portion of the country now sees this clearly. Only 33% of
Americans, according to the latest Pew poll, approve of Mr. Bush and the job
he is doing.

    Hey, it only took five years. It has suddenly become all the rage to
jump all over this administration. Pundits from every corner, including more
than a few conservatives, are apparently waking up to the fact that they
stapled themselves to Casey Jones's train. Hell, even right-wing avatar
Peggy Noonan is saying that if she knew then what she knew now, she wouldn't
have voted for Bush. Here's the kicker, though, and a good explanation for
that lingering 33% support: Noonan says she wouldn't vote for Bush because
he is actually a liberal. The blind leading the blind has become the
deranged following the deranged. Go figure.

    Speaking of deranged, and of the 33-percenters, let me show you
something. This was put together by one of the administrators of the web
forum DemocraticUnderground, who noticed that news reports out of Iraq seem
to continuously use the phrase "a recent surge of violence" to describe what
is happening there. Feast:

    2003

    Middle East Online, September 3, 2003: "Meanwhile, Chancellor Gerhard
Schroeder and French President Jacques Chirac were to meet in Germany on
Thursday to discuss ways for the West to respond to the recent surge in
violence in Iraq and the Middle East."

    UK Telegraph, October 31, 2003: "Ansar is believed to be channeling into
Iraq the foreign fighters who are behind a recent surge in violence in the
country, officials say."

    KNI News, November 3, 2003: "Bush blamed loyalists to ousted Iraqi
President Saddam Hussein and foreign terrorists for the recent surge in
violence in Iraq."

    2004

    Reuters, March 4, 2004: "A wave of bomb attacks in Baghdad and Karbala
killing at least 171 people earlier this week has highlighted the
difficulties in rebuilding the country and restoring peace. But Mr. Blair,
speaking after a meeting in Rome with his Italian counterpart, Silvio
Berlusconi, said the recent surge in violence in Iraq did not constitute
civil war."

    Radio Free Europe, April 14, 2004: "US President George W. Bush held a
major news conference at the White House on 13 April in the middle of the
deadliest month for Americans in Iraq since Baghdad fell a year ago. He
spoke of the recent surge in violence there, but urged his countrymen not to
lose faith. He also said he would adhere to the 30 June deadline for handing
over sovereignty to Iraqis."

    US State Department, April 15, 2004: "Pace said the recent surge in
violence in Iraq is being driven by 'terrorists' who see the June 30
deadline for turnover of sovereignty approaching rapidly and are petrified
by the promise of democracy."

    CBS News, April 26, 2004: "Lt. Gen. David Barno, the top American
commander in Afghanistan, said Monday that the military has seen a recent
surge in violence, but that most attacks were directed against soft targets,
such as civilians or isolated Afghan security outposts."

    Pew Research Center, May 12, 2004: "Despite the prison abuse scandal and
the recent surge in violence in Iraq, a majority of the public (53%)
continues to support keeping troops in Iraq until a stable government is
established."

    China Daily, May 25, 2004: "In his speech to the Army War College here,
Bush warned that 'there are difficult days ahead and the way forward may
sometimes appear chaotic.' Yet he vowed the handover would take place on
schedule and that the US-led coalition would not be defeated by insurgents
blamed for the recent surge in violence."

    The New Standard, June 24, 2004: "Compelled by the recent surge in
violence, US Central Command (CentCom) has informally asked Army planners
for as many as 25,000 more troops in Iraq, the Baltimore Sun reports."

    The Washington Post, July 22, 2004: "Despite a recent surge in violence,
including kidnappings, car bombings and assassinations, senior US and Iraqi
officials gave a relatively optimistic assessment on Wednesday of the
security situation in Iraq since the transfer of political authority from US
to Iraqi authorities June 28."

    Progress Magazine, July/August, 2004: "In the short term, ongoing help
will be required with the maintenance of security within the country. The
response to the recent surge in violence must emphasize political solutions
and not be just a simple deployment of military power."

    The Washington Post, September 9, 2004: "'The recent surge in violence
has been especially surprising because in the weeks after the transfer of
power there was a phase that, for Iraq, felt to some almost like a lull.'"

    Al Jazeera, September 17, 2004: "The assessments, made before the recent
surge in violence in Iraq and the US military death toll there topping 1000,
appear to conflict with Bush's upbeat description of the US-led effort to
stabilize and democratize Iraq."

    The Washington Times, September 22, 2004: "The Iraqi leader also said
that despite a recent surge in violence in Iraq, it is 'very important for
the people of the world really to know that we are winning, we are making
progress in Iraq, we are defeating terrorists.'"

    Al Jazeera, December 18, 2004: "Mosul has experienced a recent surge in
violence. On Friday, a car carrying Turkish security guards was attacked in
the city, in Iraq's far north near the Turkish border, and four people were
killed, one of them decapitated."

    2005

    Radio Free Europe, January 4, 2005: "The incident marks the most senior
assassination since the death in May of Governing Council president Abd
al-Zahra Uthman Muhammad and should be seen within the context of the recent
surge in violence ahead of national and provincial elections slated for 30
January."

    CBS Chicago, January 17, 2005: "The area around Kut has seen a recent
surge in violence. In a separate attack, two Iraqi provincial government
auditors were shot to death late Sunday after armed gunmen stopped their car
in Suwaira, about 25 miles southeast of Baghdad, an official at a Kut
hospital said."

    ABC News, March 2, 2005: "Most of the victims were Shiites, the targets
of a recent surge in violence, most notably a series of suicide bombings and
other attacks that killed nearly 100 people during the Shiite religious
commemoration known as Ashoura."

    The BBC, April 27, 2005: "But he added it was too early to say if a
recent surge in violence amounted to a concerted campaign, and insisted that
US-backed forces were 'winning.'"

    The International Herald-Tribune, May 16, 2005: "The insurgents' choice
of adversary is unusual. But the recent surge in violence, at least, follows
a time-tested pattern."

    The Washington Post, May 19, 2005: "A senior US military official told
reporters Wednesday that the recent surge in violence in Iraq followed a
meeting in Syria last month of associates of the Jordanian insurgent leader
Abu Musab Zarqawi."

    The Council on Foreign Relations, May 20, 2005: "It's unclear how much
of the recent surge in violence stems from tribal leaders, but as Metz
points out: 'Local elites recognize that in a secular, modernized Iraq,
their power would be challenged.'"

    Salon, May 23, 2005: "Even despite the recent surge in violence, in some
areas - downtown Mosul, for example - Iraqi forces have begun limited
independent operations."

    Associated Press, June 17, 2005: "It is also believed to be the main
hideout of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian militant whose al
Qaeda-linked group has carried out many of the deadliest attacks in Iraq and
who US forces believe is behind a recent surge in violence."

    White House press conference, June 20, 2005: "Mr. President, we were
told that you planned to sharpen your focus on Iraq. Why did this become
necessary? And given the recent surge in violence, do you agree with Vice
President Dick Cheney's assessment that the insurgency is in its last
throes?"

    Iran Focus Online, August 4, 2005: "His comments came as the 15-nation
council unanimously adopted a US-drafted resolution condemning a recent
surge in violence in Iraq that has killed hundreds ..."

    Radio Free Europe, August 12, 2005: "But a recent surge in violence and
reports of growing public hostility to the Japanese presence are prompting
many to question the prospects for continued humanitarian assistance there."

    Associated Press, September 17, 2005: "Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, leader of
al Qaeda in Iraq, has reportedly said the recent surge in violence is in
retaliation for a coalition offensive against the group's stronghold in the
northern city of Tal Afar."

    The Washington Times, October 31, 2005: "The fresh US effort to crack
down on insurgents followed a recent surge in violence caused by the passing
of the new Iraqi constitution in a referendum held earlier this month."

    2006

    Agence France Presse, January 7, 2006: "US officials have sought to
downplay a recent surge in violence that on Thursday alone claimed the lives
of more than 115 Iraqis and 11 US servicemen."

    The Sidney Morning Herald, January 8, 2006: "The recent surge in
violence is "an anomaly" and Iraq is not on the verge of civil war, the top
US commander there said yesterday, after one of the country's bloodiest days
since the fall of Saddam Hussein."

    The American Chronicle, February 1, 2006: "Recently, five other members
of Congress and I sat on a C-130 transport plane surrounded by soldiers
going from Kuwait to Baghdad. The backdrop is a recent surge in violence."

    The Associated Press, February 4, 2006: "Dozens of bodies have been
discovered in various parts of Baghdad gagged, bound and shot repeatedly in
the past week, amid recent surge in violence, which analysts have repeatedly
described as initial stages of an open-ended civil war between Iraq's ethnic
groups."

    Associated Press, March 1, 2006: "AP reports that he was giving an
unusually frank assessment of the stakes in the country's recent surge in
violence."

    The Baltimore Sun, March 4, 2006: "The top US commander in Iraq said
yesterday that he hopes to make an assessment this spring about whether to
reduce the number of American troops in Iraq. But Pentagon officials
speaking anonymously said a recent surge in violence there has dampened
hopes that force levels can be cut anytime soon."

    Associated Press, March 6, 2006: "The training at the desert village is
especially important for the Marines of the First Battalion, 14th Marine
Regiment, 4th Marine Division. The battalion, made up mostly of Marine
reservists, is leaving soon for Iraq, where sectarian tensions have brought
a recent surge in violence - and growing concerns about civil war."

    Reuters, March 10, 2006: "Iraqi forces, not American troops, would deal
with a civil war if one erupts in Iraq and US troop cuts remained possible
despite a recent surge in violence, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said
on Thursday."

    Al Jazeera, March 11, 2006: "Moving to the recent surge in violence that
has swept Iraq, Ritter said he wasn't surprised as the only thing holding
the three infighting ethnic and religious groups (Kurds, Shia, and Sunnis)
together since the end of the Ottoman Empire after World War I was Saddam
Hussein's Ba'athist Party."

    The New York Times, March 13, 2006: "Despite the recent surge in
violence in Iraq, Mr. Reid said he believed that civil war was "neither
imminent nor inevitable." He said Iraqi security forces now numbered around
235,000, with 5,000 more volunteering to join every month."

    There you have it, folks. There isn't anything to worry about in Iraq.
It has only been a "recent surge of violence" we have been hearing about ...
every week for the last three years since this whole catastrophe was first
undertaken. Have no fear, though. As Army General George Casey states in the
January 8, 2006, article above, "This level of violence, I think as we've
seen, is an anomaly." George can keep right on admiring his rug.