Lacking authority: Within the last hour, the cablers went live for a speech by President Bush in which he urged the United Nations to hold Syria accountable for aiding terrorists and for the assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri.
On substance: An investigation by the U.N. confirmed that Hariri’s murder was engineered inside the Syrian government. How – or whether – Syria experiences consequences from this is an open question.
On style: Worst. Speech. Ever. Does he even bother to read the text beforehand? He comes off as being completely unprepared. His speechifying – the loud, almost shouting, staccato delivery – is like a caricature of Capt. James T. Kirk. Has he never watched a replay of himself giving a speech? Does he have any idea how unpleasant that is to listen to?
Obviously, by sounding tough on Syria, Team Bush hopes to reignite some of their long lost swagger. Problem is, if you’re going to swagger, you’d better produce results. They have only produced a crisis.
We are landlords in the Middle East, thanks to Mr. Bush. When neighboring governments have their political rivals rubbed out, we can’t afford to treat it like business as usual. With Bush team in charge, however, we could very well end up igniting a second front in the terror wars.
As I listened to the president, I realized that we are experiencing a crisis of leadership. The credibility of the man who serves as the Leader of the Free World is damaged beyond repair, both at home and abroad. We can no longer trust him, or his message.
Great crises often bring out great leaders. We can only hope that this crisis produces a great leader sooner than later.
I think we first have to take a very careful look at the Hariri Assassination report itself (read Robert Parry’s article at consortiumnews.com). Are there any Chalabi’s hanging around? It seems so…it also points out that the vehicle used in the bombing was stolen off a street in Japan four months earlier (now how do mideast terrorists get a hold of a stolen Japanese cargo van? Might be wise to answer this question before sending off the fighter bombers this time…). Lots of unanswered questions with the Bush Cabal having zero credibility when it comes to apportioning blame for acts of middle east violence. Not saying Syrians didn’t do it…all I’m saying is ‘which Syrians, and did they have help?’
I can’t believe you are able to listen to an entire Bush speech. I have a hard time with 10-second sound bites. But I don’t think you’re being fair to Capt. Kirk. He got a little lively every now and then.
Just more “Bush Stuff” bluster to try to distract from “Treason Gate” which looks like it is going to take a whole big bite out of this gang of thieves, and who knows, there may be enough rope here to go around the whole damn bunch!
So, hang in, folks….Looks like Fritzmas iz jus aroun da cornor, no matter WHAT the snake oil sellin’ Chimp-In-Chief says or duz!