Jesse Hemingway
06-03-2008, 10:49 AM
DISPATCHES FROM AMERICA
Kill, kill, kill: Presidential bloodlust
By Tom Engelhardt
Not long after that, the president "launched" what an evidently bewildered Sanchez politely describes as "a kind of confused pep talk regarding both Fallujah and our upcoming southern campaign [against the Mahdi Army]." Here then is that "pep talk". While you read it, try to imagine anything like it coming out of the mouth of any other American president, or anything not like it coming out of the mouth of any evil enemy leader in the films of the president's - and my own - childhood:
"Kick ass!" [Bush] said, echoing Colin Powell's tough talk. "If somebody tries to stop the march to democracy, we will seek them out and kill them! We must be tougher than hell! This Vietnam stuff, this is not even close. It is a mindset. We can't send that message. It's an excuse to prepare us for withdrawal.
"There is a series of moments and this is one of them. Our will is being tested, but we are resolute. We have a better way. Stay strong! Stay the course! Kill them! Be confident! Prevail! We are going to wipe them out! We are not blinking!"
Keep in mind that the bloodlusty rhetoric of this "pep talk" wasn't meant to rev up US Marine Corps heading into battle. These were the president's well-embunkered top advisors in a strategy session on the eve of major military offensives in Iraq. Evidently, however, the president was intent on imitating George C Scott playing General George Patton - or perhaps even inadvertently channeling one of the evil villains of his cinematic childhood.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JF04Ak05.html
Kill, kill, kill: Presidential bloodlust
By Tom Engelhardt
Not long after that, the president "launched" what an evidently bewildered Sanchez politely describes as "a kind of confused pep talk regarding both Fallujah and our upcoming southern campaign [against the Mahdi Army]." Here then is that "pep talk". While you read it, try to imagine anything like it coming out of the mouth of any other American president, or anything not like it coming out of the mouth of any evil enemy leader in the films of the president's - and my own - childhood:
"Kick ass!" [Bush] said, echoing Colin Powell's tough talk. "If somebody tries to stop the march to democracy, we will seek them out and kill them! We must be tougher than hell! This Vietnam stuff, this is not even close. It is a mindset. We can't send that message. It's an excuse to prepare us for withdrawal.
"There is a series of moments and this is one of them. Our will is being tested, but we are resolute. We have a better way. Stay strong! Stay the course! Kill them! Be confident! Prevail! We are going to wipe them out! We are not blinking!"
Keep in mind that the bloodlusty rhetoric of this "pep talk" wasn't meant to rev up US Marine Corps heading into battle. These were the president's well-embunkered top advisors in a strategy session on the eve of major military offensives in Iraq. Evidently, however, the president was intent on imitating George C Scott playing General George Patton - or perhaps even inadvertently channeling one of the evil villains of his cinematic childhood.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JF04Ak05.html