We’re All F___ed

The opening paragraph of “First Stop, Iraq,” in Time’s March 31, 2003, issue:

“F___ Saddam. We’re taking him out.” Those were the words of President George W. Bush, who had poked his head into the office of National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice. It was March 2002, and Rice was meeting with three U.S. Senators, discussing how to deal with Iraq through the United Nations, or perhaps in a coalition with America’s Middle East Allies. Bush wasn’t interested. He waved his hand dismissively, recalls a participant, and neatly summed up his Iraq policy in that short phrase. The Senators laughed uncomfortably; Rice flashed a knowing smile. The President left the room.

When did Time learn about this incident? Weeks ago? Months ago? If Time had known about Bush the chickenhawk’s Rambo imitation for quite some, ahem, time, why did the magazine wait until after this country’s latest undeclared war had begun to report the comment, which could have made the war debate slightly less of an especially-vacuous formality? Could Time have wanted this war to help boost circulation and thus help boost profits for the magazine’s owner, superconglomerate AOL Time Warner, which also owns that spreader of warnography, CNN?

Obviously the above anecdote proves Bush had no intention of seeking a diplomatic, peaceful, and/or multilateral solution to the Iraq “problem” manufactured by administration warheads to distract the populace from the weak economy, the proposed massive tax breaks for Bush’s corporate buddies, etc. Bush lied repeatedly for a year when he told reporters he hadn’t planned to whack Iraq; he had to distract us poor saps, make us think we could influence our government. (Bush, remember, bragged that antiwar protesters, whom he dismissed as “focus groups,” would not influence his decision to smoke Muslims and grab their sweet, sweet crude.)

By the way, did the White House leak the above anecdote to make Bush look tough? Is the “participant” Rice herself?

April 8-10, 2003

Or the “participant” could have been Bush himself.

June 15, 2023