Exploiting September 11

If only for twenty-four hours, I wanted to be in agreement with President Bush. He and Laura came to New York Sunday night, where they placed two beds of flowers in the reflecting pools that mark the former north and south towers of the World Trade Center.  They attended a memorial service nearby, and Bush spoke movingly of wanting to "make the family members whole."

Monday morning, September 11, he had breakfast with some of the first responders who survived that horrible day.  Eventually he went to Shanksville, Pennsylvania, for the dedication of a memorial where United Flight 93 fell.  Finally, he was at the Pentagon, where the emotion of the day brought tears to his eyes.

Finally, I could agree with President Bush about something. The United States needed to pause and remember who and what we lost. It was a day of mourning, and nothing else.

Then the President capped off his day with a prime time television address at 9 PM.  It began well, by paying tribute to those who died.  Suddenly he said, "Some people ask me why we're in Iraq when it had nothing to do with the attacks of September 11..."

Good question, Mr. President.  But his answer was the same shrill litany of meaningless justifications for his war in Iraq.  With only a few hours left to get through this painful day, it was time to play politics with the memories of the dead, and to grease the wheels for the next stop on the blood train.

Iran, are you listening? George Bush is a-comin' for you.

The most telling moment in the speech was when he praised himself for the fact that five years have gone by without another attack in the United States. In the next breath, he listed the places where terrorists have struck since then (not counting Iraq, where they strike every day).  London, Madrid, Riyadh, and Bali are all on that list.  Are those deaths less important than the deaths of people in the United States?

For the President, the answer is yes.  For all his talk of defending civilization, he really only cares about America.  That's not such a bad thing, except when it's combined with his insufferable delusions of grandeur. 

In my name, this President has caused most of the world to become more deadly.  That's a bitter bill to swallow, especially on September 11.