Support BuzzFlash Get a copy of click image MORE BuzzFlash INTERVIEWS WORLD MEDIA WATCH P.M. CARPENTER MAUREEN FARRELL BARBARA'S DAILY BUZZ SOUTHERN STYLE CARTOONS THE ANGRY LIBERAL EDITORIALS CONTRIBUTORS MAILBAG PERSPECTIVES ANALYSIS NEWS ALERTS LINK ARCHIVES SEARCH ABOUT FAQ

A BUZZFLASH READER COMMENTARY
by Dave Walters

The daily drumbeat of American deaths in Iraq reached a grim milestone yesterday. As of Tuesday, more have died since George Bush's carrier-based macho-man PR stunt than died during "major combat operations" of the war.

On that day, just off the coast of San Diego, the Bush message was-with great fanfare and bold-lettered banners-that "major combat" in Iraq was over, and that our "mission" was "accomplished."

But our senses tell us otherwise. Something doesn't add up. Americans in Iraq continue to die.

Imagine if more Americans had died in Vietnam after we declared the war over than died during the war. Or if more died in Germany or Japan after the declared end of WWII? It would be weird, huh?

As usual, the facts surrounding Iraq are much different than Bush would have us believe. The reality is: "major combat" isn't over; it's just gone underground. In reality, there's no end in sight to the daily slaughter of our young soldiers.

This is par for the Bush course: Declare bold things--loudly and simply, with banners and slogans--and hope that merely saying them will make them come true. And when reality finally forces their hand, they just move onto the next lie, with no apologies.

It takes more time and effort for Thinking Americans to refute each lie than it does for Bushites to utter them. So the Bushites are always one step ahead.

Thinking Americans are alarmed at the ever-widening divide between what's real and logical and reasonable--what our senses tell us--and what we see coming out of the mouths of Bush and this administration.

Sure, we're used to our elected leaders playing fast and loose with the truth. But we're unaccustomed to the wholesale twisting and denial of reality itself.

Here's a good rule of thumb: Hear what Bushites say, and then expect the opposite to come true. You'll be right more than you're wrong.

And here's the score: Despite what the Bush administration says, the mission is not accomplished in Iraq. Iraq wasn't a grave threat to the U.S. America is not safer for attacking Iraq. The Iraqi people don't welcome us there. Iraq is not more stable and is not becoming a beacon of democracy in the mideast.

Despite Bushites telling us the opposite.

Oh, and while we're at it: the tax cuts have not stimulated the economy. Our economy is not getting better. Our skies aren't clearer, our nation is not safer, gas prices aren't lower, and most everyone is paying more in taxes and fees than we were before Bush's tax cut. The list of say-the-opposite-of-what's-truisms goes on and on.

And don't forget the Big Lie that got us here: Bush is NOT a "uniter" who "trusts the people."

We need to return honor and dignity -- and a sense of reality -- back to our White House. And fast.

A BUZZFLASH READER COMMENTARY