Help Wanted: Translator for Bush Administration

Apparently George W. Bush is determined to spill more American blood onto Iraqi sand regardless of the actual requests from the Iraq government. In an interview that comes days after Bush has insisted on sending 21,500 more Americans into the growing civil war in Iraq, that country’s Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, said, ”If we succeed in implementing the agreement between us to speed up the equipping and providing weapons to our military forces, I think that within three to six months our need for the American troops will dramatically go down. That's on the condition that there are real strong efforts to support our military forces and equipping them and arming them.”

During the hour long interview, al-Maliki took great pains to assert the independence and sovereignty of Iraq and took exception to remarks from Condi Rice that the al-Maliki government was on “borrowed time.” From the story in the Washington Post, ”The prime minister said statements such as Rice's "give morale boosts for the terrorists and push them toward making an extra effort and making them believe they have defeated the American administration," Maliki said. "But I can tell you that they have not defeated the Iraqi government."”

What seems to be the disconnect between the Bush administration and al-Maliki? While the Bush administration is, on the one hand, telling the American people that ‘we stand shoulder to shoulder with the government of Iraq and are working tirelessly to support our newest ally in the war on terror’ according to the story in the Post, ”Bush administration officials have long expressed concern in private about delivering military equipment to Iraq because of uncertainty that it would be kept out of the hands of militiamen, common criminals and insurgents.” So, if Bush doesn’t trust the Iraq government he helped to install, who is he sending our troops to die for?

Peace,
Chad (The Left) Shue