BUSH'S CONVOLUTED RHETORIC

An example of Bush's convoluted and misleading rhetoric:

"The terrorists understand the threat a democratic Iraq poses to their cause, so they've been fighting a bloody campaign of sectarian violence which they hope will plunge that country into a civil war," Mr Bush said in his weekly radio address.

Let's parse that statement. "The terrorists" -- note he doesn't specify "which" terrorists, he lumps all the terrorists in the world into one homogeneous category, as if they share common cause, common leadership, and common strategic objectives.

"... the threat a democratic Iraq poses to their cause ..." -- Hamas and Hezbollah don't seem to oppose democracy, do they? In fact, they participate in and benefit from democracy in their respective spheres of influence, and now hold legislative seats and positions of leadership. Democracy actually offers revolutionaries a chance to impose their agendas on governments by peaceful means that they don't have under despotisms -- it is that lack that drives revolutionaries into terrorism. As Nicolas Cage's character in National Treasure stated, if the patriots of the American Revolution hadn't been successful, they'd have been hung as terrorists.

"... so they've been fighting a bloody campaign of sectarian violence which they hope will plunge that country into a civil war." Excuse me? The terrorists are conducting the sectarian violence? Did he miss the fact that Sunni and Shi'a militias are doing that themselves? No doubt the terrorists (whoever they are; it's estimated that Al Qaeda-connected or -inspired numbers are slim in Iraq) see a benefit in Iraq sliding into civil war, embarrassing the U.S. and reaping a credit and credibility they don't deserve from Bush's blaming them for the debacle, but the clerical militias are clearly struggling for dominance in Iraq and exacting revenge for decades of grievances, and don't need urging from the few foreign terrorists in country to do so.

"Our commanders and diplomats on the ground believe that Iraq has not descended into a civil war," Mr Bush said. "They report that only a small number of Iraqis are engaged in sectarian violence, while the overwhelming majority want peace and a normal life in a unified country."

That rosy assessment doesn't sound like the testimony of Gen. Abizaid, the senior U.S. commander in the Middle East: "Abizaid said that the sectarian violence was as bad as he had seen it, particularly in Baghdad, and that 'if not stopped, it is possible that Iraq would move toward civil war.'" And it doesn't reflect very reliably the report released yesterday by the Pentagon. But when have the facts ever bothered Dubya, Cheney, Rummy or Condi?

Tags: Iraq war, civil war, Bush speech