The Buck Stops Here

I have been reading about George W. Bush (GWB), his papers, his library, and Harry S Truman (HST).The discussion about GWB and his library centers on the unusual amount of classified material, and the war in Iraq.Some articles have been written about GWB and HST, both unpopular in their time.

It is the job of the president to make decisions, whether these decisions be popular or unpopular. Both GWB and HST had to make hard decisions unpopular in their times. HST's turned out to be good and GWB believes his will be.

I almost became sympathethic to GWB. I was actually moved.However, GWB made his decisions in arrogance.I needed to remember why I thought the War in Iraq was an appallingly immoral act: the incredible and monstrous arrogance which accompanied it.

Shock and Awe Remember? It was Shock and Awe. Our killing of the guilty and the innocent was Shock and Awe.

The War was named as if it were a version of Grand Theft-Auto. It was going to be a replay of Gulf War I. It was Gulf War II. Only bigger and better.

Every Neoconservative worth his grain of salt was heard crowing about how quick the war would be, how painless the war would be, how cheap the war would be.

Yet any fool knew in his heart this was a crude deception.

Then Mission Accomplished. And GWB danced a Caligula-like jig upon the deck of an aircraft carrier. (Amazingly enough, an ex-marine member of the Greybeards Club saw this and immediately turned against the President back in 2003. He said it reminded him strikingly of a railroad car in Compiegne and a doctored newsreel. He did not mean a parallel between GWB and any other historic figure. He meant the attitudes were repugnant to him.The fighting men yell and get drunk with victory. This war was nothing for the people at home. They were not inconvenienced.Why this display? He said the display was to re-inforce and establish the equivalence between 9-11 and Iraq. We suffered nothing from the Iraq War at that time. Hence, the only reason for a victory dance was 9-11. At this point, he saw through the lie. Those guys at the Greybeards are way too smart for me.)

And then the 40 million dollar Inauguration. And they danced while the innocent were killed. No. I do not see any resemblance between HST and GWB. I had a professor once whose dad used to play poker with HST. He said HST had an odd game wherein deuces, treys, jacks and queens were wild...mainly as a way of spreading the wealth around. GWB only looked for the well-being of the rich. I see no resemblance between HST and GWB.