I just find this so amazing! Even after searching journalists before the press conference with pres Bush and the Iraqi President, a journalist finds a way to express the opinion of the Iraq people - - he throws his shoes at Pres Bush. How do you stop an insurgency? Ultimately, no amount of troops can do it, nor can payoffs to tribal chiefs, putting former Sunni insurgents on the payroll (bribing them to stop the attacks against our troops). We spend so much on military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, and just a fraction on rebuilding the countries. We have not addressed the refuge problem. To my knowledge we are not helping Syria with the millions of Iraqs who are now living in Syria, or the millions of Afghans living in Iran. Remember the big sendoff Sec. Rumsfeld received when he resigned? Pres. Bush should have thrown his shoe at Rumsfeld instead of giving him a state farewell. Of the books I have read on Bush #43, he admired Ronald Reagan, even tried the cowboy look that Reagan perfected, projecting an image of traditional values (the guy with the white hat cleaning out the lawless liberals from the town). Like Reagan, Bush delegated authority to his cabinet. The story about Bremer (the former General who was head of the Iraq authority during post invasion Iraq) coming back to US after he handed over authority (?) to the civilian Iraqi gov: he meets with Rumsfeld (his boss) and Rumsfeld is dismissive, doesn't talk about the obvious problems (banning Baath party members from gov, disbanding Iraqi army, the growing insurgency), and then they end up at white house for Bremer to have Pres. bush tell him what a great job he did. Bremer meets briefly with Bush, Bush seems oblivious to the situation in Iraq, tells Bremer what a great job he did (? !) and Bremer leaves, after about 7 min or so in oval office. The author of the book asked Bremer, since you had a chance to talk to the Pres, did you tell him what is going on in Iraq? The slow moving train wreck disaster? Bremer (a career officer) says, no - Its not his place, since Bremer reports to Rumsfeld, its Rumsfeld's job to inform the President. But the author asks, wasn't it clear Bush didnt know what was really going on in Iraq, because Rumsfeld was feeding him feel good reports and keeping Bush in Happy Land? Bremer says, it wasn't his job or place to contradict Rumsfeld. !!!!! Bush was detached, he delegated and his cabinet didnt give him the real story - Did Rumsfeld think Bush was too dense to understand the situation in Iraq? That it was Bush's job to look presidential and play the role of President, while his staff handled the important hard stuff? And Bush's last press conference was bizarre - he defended himself, became angry, and then said he was the "decider," and that history would remember him as the guy who made tough decisions....Its not the fact that a decision has been made, its the nature of the decision that is important. bush made decisions alright, based on what BS his cabinet told him, decisions that his cabinet wanted him to make given the data they gave him. he was manipulated by Cheney and Rumsfeld and only "thought" he was making decisions.
The entire Press corps should have thrown their shoes at Pres Bush at his last press conference. Or, is it true that before Bush's last press conference, that the secret service made everyone in the room take their shoes off and check them at the door?
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