Bush, stop crying those crocodile tears!

I originally planned on writing about Pavarotti

and his passing and how his music represented

all that is beautiful about this world, but I

unfortunately found myself unable to ignore

front page declarations made by George Bush

about how “he does a lot of crying”. With the

sixth anniversary of 9/11 looming in the background,

I needed to comment on this inane

president’s inane statements.

“I do a lot of crying in this job. I’ll bet I’ve

shed more tears than you can count as president.

I’ll shed some tomorrow,” he reveals in

Dead Certain: The Presidency of George W.

Bush, which was just released.

If you’re looking for pity from me, George,

I’m afraid you’re going to be waiting for an

eternity. I don’t care about the tears that you’ve

shed while in the midst of making decisions

that have cost others more tears than you can

possibly ever imagine.

Yes, the cowardly attack of 9/11 left 3,000

innocent people dead and their families and

loved ones in mourning, but what have you

done since to honour their memory and bring

about change in the world? Six years later and

over 100,000 innocent Iraqi civilians have died

and an additional 3,800 Americans have met

their death far away from home. Bin Laden

should send you a thank-you card for doing his

dirty work.

The war in Iraq has left more than 27,000

coalition soldiers wounded. For the first time

in history, according to U.S. military figures, 90

percent of people injured in combat

survive their injuries, thanks to advances in

surgical techniques. Missing limbs and their

spirit, they come home feeling that they’ve

accomplished what exactly? They may not be

dead, but what kind of life awaits them now?

Saddam, who incidentally had nothing to

do with 9/11, has been executed, while bin

Laden is still alive; holed up somewhere

between Pakistan and Afghanistan, taunting

Bush with videotaped messages and sending

chills up the Western world’s spine as he threatens

more of the same. Nothing has changed…

Thanks to Bush, his aggressive foreign policy

and his way of “forcing” democracy on countries

who view Americans as conquerors and

not liberators, he has created a brand new generation

of jihadists and suicide bombers. It’s

enough to keep anyone up at night.

“This is a job where you can have a lot of

self-pity,”Bush confides to author John Draper.

I feel for you, George. The actions you’ve taken

must have been hard ones. Almost as hard as

sending your child off to war to fight for reasons

as yet unclear. But what would you know

about that? You’re too busy implementing

Milton Friedman’s “shock therapy” (I urge you

to read Naomi Klein’s The Shock Doctrine:

The Rise of Disaster Capitalism), seizing upon

the fear generated to launch the “war on terror”

and ensuring that it’s a completely for-profit

venture.

Don’t want to talk politics? Let me borrow

the words of my favourite poet Leonard

Cohen. The words were written a long time

ago, but they are as pertinent now as ever.

“ Everybody knows that the dice are loaded.

Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed.

Everybody knows that the war is over.

Everybody knows the good guys lost.

Everybody knows the fight was fixed: the poor

stay poor and the rich stay rich. That’s how it

goes. Everybody knows.

Everybody knows that the boat is leaking.

Everybody knows the captain lied. Everybody

got this broken feeling like their father or their

dog just died. Everybody talking to their

pockets. Everybody wants a box of chocolates

and a long-stemmed rose. Everybody knows”.

You’ve been crying, George? Everybody

knows they’re crocodile tears…