Friday, May 6, 2011

Slighting

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist


There was a report in the national press today saying that former President Bush had declined President Obama's invitation to visit Ground Zero in New York City because Bush felt "slighted" by Obama.   Bush felt that Obama didn't seem to give any of the glory for Osama bin Laden's demise to the Bush administration.

Well George, know this:  I, too, feel slighted.

I felt slighted by the national treachery of your brother, his secretary of state, and five old men on the Supreme Court who aborted the recount in Florida in order to assure the rise of a nincompoop to the Presidency of my country.

I felt slighted by the fact that our Commander-in-Chief nearly peed himself when he learned about the 9/11 attacks and did not have Clue One as to how to respond.  And I felt really slighted when I learned that after you quit flying around the country like some frightened schoolboy, you started taking action by immediately flying all of Bin Laden's relatives back to the safety of Saudi Arabia.

I felt slighted when you somehow magically turned the focus of your War on Terror onto Saddam Hussein and the country of Iraq - a man and a country that had bupkiss to do with Al Qaeda's attack on America.

I felt slighted and angry the day you did your little rooster dance aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln and declared "Mission Accomplished" - when nothing had been accomplished.

I felt slighted when you took the focus off of finding Osama bin Laden and showed that your true objective was Middle Eastern oil and oil routes.

I felt slighted as our brave young troops began dying in a war that looked to many to be little more than you trying to one-up your Dad in Iraq.  The pictures and stories of the maimed survivors who made it home also sickened me and made me feel slighted.

I felt slighted when your administration tried to keep Americans from being able to see the caskets of "returning" troops.

I felt slighted because of the rein of death that your administration inflicted on children in Iraq and Afghanistan - especially because your administration refused to allow statistics to be kept on civilian casualties.

I felt slighted when the stories of the hired mercenaries (i.e. Blackwater) that you sent into the wars began to surface - stories of brutality and carnage so savage that our national image as a fair and rational people who adhere to the established conventions of war was tossed into a cocked hat.  I was sickened beyond words to know that over two hundred years of always taking the high road in wars had been discarded by a group of Vietnam Era draft dodgers who appeared clueless as to what the ramifications would be.

The crazy and inhumane practices of water-boarding and extraordinary renditions made me feel slighted.

I felt slighted when the horrible photos from Abu Ghraib made it into the news and we were able to see just how these wars had desensitized some of our young people (and their leaders) and turned them into monsters.

I felt slighted when you evangelical cadre of General officers began hinting that we were actually fighting holy wars to rid the world of Muslims - and then when I learned that the infamous Cheney Gang had actually talked in the White House about turning "mosques into cathedrals," I knew that I had had good reason to feel slighted.

I felt slighted when I learned that the death of Pat Tillman had come from friendly fire and that one of your generals had been directly involved in trying to cover-up the true cause of Pat's death.

I felt slighted when these useless and endless wars drug on through your second term.  As the years passed, I felt slighted as it became apparent that you were even worse at directing the economy than you were at leading in wartime.

George, I even felt slighted when you stood regally in the cold at President Obama's inauguration - because if ever there was a reason for impeachment and removal from office, you, sir, were it.  Your classy exit from power was far better than you deserved.

And finally, I feel slighted every time a positive reference is made to you in the press.  The abuses that you condoned while in the White House - in the name of "national security" - did so much to harm our security and reputation that it will take generations to fix.  Hopefully your Presidency was an aberration, the likes of which will never inflict itself on America again.

Here is your legacy, George.  It is something that I read on a billboard many years ago.  "No man is completely worthless - he can always serve as a bad example."  To that I say, "Well, done, George.  Well done!"




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