Sprafa
Tank
- Joined
- Sep 9, 2003
- Messages
- 5,742
- Reaction score
- 0
It started with a joke, but once the laughter stopped I had to admit that the President's sunny statements about Iraq last week did sound disturbingly similar to some of the classics uttered by Saddam's former Minister of Information. "Be assured: Baghdad is safe."
On his Friday night chat show on HBO, comedian Bill Maher cracked a joke about President Bush remaining relentlessly upbeat about our war effort in Iraq despite a week of seemingly serious setbacks. Bush, according to Maher, sounds more like "Baghdad Bob" every day.
Baghdad Bob, of course, was Saddam Hussein's minister of information, now immortalized on t-shirts, Web sites and even a DVD for his optimistic, if fanciful, statements about Iraq's triumph over the American infidels, right up to the point we toppled his boss's statue. Baghdad Bob, real name Muhammed Saeed al-Sahaf, somehow survived and at last report was happily working as an Arab TV commentator, sans trademark beret.
Maher's joke was funny because it got at an essential truth, even as he stretched it. But the next day, I got to thinking, what if that's not such an exaggeration after all?
Consider that in the past week violence flared at unprecedented levels all over Iraq; U.S. deaths there soared past the 1,000 mark with more killed than at any time in recent weeks; a declassified National Intelligence Estimate painted a dire picture of prospects in Iraq; and reports circulated that our military plans to mobilize more troops and launch bloody attacks (post-election) on insurgent strongholds. A leading GOP senator, Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, said, "the worst thing we can do is hold ourselves hostage to some grand illusion that we're winning. Right now, we are not winning. Things are getting worse."
And yet President Bush suggested all week that Iraq was firmly on the path to stability and democracy. On Friday he told a newspaper, "The Iraqis are defying the dire predictions of a lot of people by moving toward democracy....I'm pleased with the progress."
So was John Kerry right last week when he said Bush was living in "a fantasy world of spin"? Is the president really not so different from Baghdad Bob? Should he now be known as "D.C. Dubya"? Or "Baghdad Bush"?
Here are a few Baghdad Bob classics from the spring of 2003 (courtesy of one of his many Web shrines), verbatim. See if you can imagine them coming out of the mouth of our president speaking to the press today.
*****
"I will only answer reasonable questions."
"No, I am not scared, and neither should you be."
"Be assured: Baghdad is safe, protected."
"We are in control, they are not in control of anything, they don't even control themselves!"
"The battle is very fierce and God made us victorious."
"They mock me for how I speak. I speak better English than they do."
"I have detailed information about the situation...which completely proves that what they allege are illusions . . . They lie every day."
"I blame Al-Jazeera."
"I can assure you that those villains will recognize in the future how they are pretending things which have never taken place."
"I would like to clarify a simple fact here: How can you lay siege to a whole country? Who is really under siege now?"
"We're giving them a real lesson today. Heavy doesn't accurately describe the level of casualties we have inflicted."
"Those are not Iraqis at all. Where did they bring them from?"
"The American press is all about lies! All they tell is lies, lies and more lies!"
"They are becoming hysterical. This is the result of frustration."
"Just look carefully, I only want you to look carefully. Do not repeat the lies of liars. Do not become like them."
"Search for the truth. I tell you things and I always ask you to verify what I say."
"The United Nations...it is all their fault."
"Even those who live on another planet, if there are such people, would condemn them."
"This is unbiased: They are retreating on all fronts. Their effort is a subject of laughter throughout the world."
"The force that was near the airport, this force was destroyed."
"They are achieving nothing; they are suffering from casualties. Those casualties are increasing, not decreasing."
"They think that by killing civilians and trying to distort the feelings of the people they will win."
"Our estimates are that none of them will come out alive unless they surrender to us quickly."
"They hold no place in Iraq. This is an illusion."
"Once again, I blame al-Jazeera. Please, make sure of what you say and do not play such a role."
"These cowards have no morals. They have no shame about lying."
"You can go and visit those places. Everything is okay. They are not in Najaf. They are nowhere. They are on the moon."
"Rumsfeld, he needs to be hit on the head."
By Ben Mitchell
_______________________________________________________
I will not stop, rest assured.
On his Friday night chat show on HBO, comedian Bill Maher cracked a joke about President Bush remaining relentlessly upbeat about our war effort in Iraq despite a week of seemingly serious setbacks. Bush, according to Maher, sounds more like "Baghdad Bob" every day.
Baghdad Bob, of course, was Saddam Hussein's minister of information, now immortalized on t-shirts, Web sites and even a DVD for his optimistic, if fanciful, statements about Iraq's triumph over the American infidels, right up to the point we toppled his boss's statue. Baghdad Bob, real name Muhammed Saeed al-Sahaf, somehow survived and at last report was happily working as an Arab TV commentator, sans trademark beret.
Maher's joke was funny because it got at an essential truth, even as he stretched it. But the next day, I got to thinking, what if that's not such an exaggeration after all?
Consider that in the past week violence flared at unprecedented levels all over Iraq; U.S. deaths there soared past the 1,000 mark with more killed than at any time in recent weeks; a declassified National Intelligence Estimate painted a dire picture of prospects in Iraq; and reports circulated that our military plans to mobilize more troops and launch bloody attacks (post-election) on insurgent strongholds. A leading GOP senator, Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, said, "the worst thing we can do is hold ourselves hostage to some grand illusion that we're winning. Right now, we are not winning. Things are getting worse."
And yet President Bush suggested all week that Iraq was firmly on the path to stability and democracy. On Friday he told a newspaper, "The Iraqis are defying the dire predictions of a lot of people by moving toward democracy....I'm pleased with the progress."
So was John Kerry right last week when he said Bush was living in "a fantasy world of spin"? Is the president really not so different from Baghdad Bob? Should he now be known as "D.C. Dubya"? Or "Baghdad Bush"?
Here are a few Baghdad Bob classics from the spring of 2003 (courtesy of one of his many Web shrines), verbatim. See if you can imagine them coming out of the mouth of our president speaking to the press today.
*****
"I will only answer reasonable questions."
"No, I am not scared, and neither should you be."
"Be assured: Baghdad is safe, protected."
"We are in control, they are not in control of anything, they don't even control themselves!"
"The battle is very fierce and God made us victorious."
"They mock me for how I speak. I speak better English than they do."
"I have detailed information about the situation...which completely proves that what they allege are illusions . . . They lie every day."
"I blame Al-Jazeera."
"I can assure you that those villains will recognize in the future how they are pretending things which have never taken place."
"I would like to clarify a simple fact here: How can you lay siege to a whole country? Who is really under siege now?"
"We're giving them a real lesson today. Heavy doesn't accurately describe the level of casualties we have inflicted."
"Those are not Iraqis at all. Where did they bring them from?"
"The American press is all about lies! All they tell is lies, lies and more lies!"
"They are becoming hysterical. This is the result of frustration."
"Just look carefully, I only want you to look carefully. Do not repeat the lies of liars. Do not become like them."
"Search for the truth. I tell you things and I always ask you to verify what I say."
"The United Nations...it is all their fault."
"Even those who live on another planet, if there are such people, would condemn them."
"This is unbiased: They are retreating on all fronts. Their effort is a subject of laughter throughout the world."
"The force that was near the airport, this force was destroyed."
"They are achieving nothing; they are suffering from casualties. Those casualties are increasing, not decreasing."
"They think that by killing civilians and trying to distort the feelings of the people they will win."
"Our estimates are that none of them will come out alive unless they surrender to us quickly."
"They hold no place in Iraq. This is an illusion."
"Once again, I blame al-Jazeera. Please, make sure of what you say and do not play such a role."
"These cowards have no morals. They have no shame about lying."
"You can go and visit those places. Everything is okay. They are not in Najaf. They are nowhere. They are on the moon."
"Rumsfeld, he needs to be hit on the head."
By Ben Mitchell
_______________________________________________________
I will not stop, rest assured.
