However boring you may think a speech by Bush (or one of his warmongering henchmen) is, listen carefully. Among the litany of false alarms, boastful claims, rosy scenarios and the next bogeyman they want to protect you from, there is always the germ of a new idea – for more warfare and renewed belligerence. One catch-phrase is woven into the speech. Next day the right wing media and government mouthpieces play it back, magnified many times, until it becomes the next "Axis of Evil", "WMD" or "Mushroom Cloud". Yesterday’s speech on Iraq (meant to be an exercise in truth telling) was peppered with references to the menace of the IED (improvised explosive devices) and how it is taking billions of dollars to stop them from impeding progress in Iraq. I heard Bush’s speech. It was predictably about self congratulatory claims of "democracy" making its way in Iraq, thanks to the valiant efforts of the US military and Iraqi civilians. The only fly in the ointment we were told, are the new and improved IEDs supplied by who else, but the next target this administration is itching to destroy – Iran. As soon as I heard this, I realized that the speech was not an update on Iraq at all as advertised by the White House. It was a blatant attempt in the further demonization of Iran. If Iran is portrayed not only as a threat to Israel but also to our soldiers fighting in Iraq, will the American public (and the cowardly Congress) give the administration another pass for going to war, however reluctantly?
" The United States is pouring billions more dollars and fresh platoons of experts into its campaign to "defeat IEDs," the roadside bombs President Bush describes as threat No. 1 to Iraq’s future.
"As we’ve improved our armor, the enemy’s improved his IEDs. They’re bigger, and with better detonating mechanisms," said Maj. Randall Simmons, whose Georgia National Guard unit escorts convoys in western Iraq that are regularly rocked, damaged and delayed by roadside blasts.
The bomb makers have the White House’s attention. In a radio address on Saturday, Bush said roadside bombs "are now the principal threat to our troops and to the future of a free Iraq."
Bush said in a speech Monday that Iran had supplied IED components to Iraqi groups, but U.S. officials have presented no evidence to support that, nor did Bush explain why Shiite Muslim Iran would aid Iraq’s Sunni-dominated insurgency…."
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