Please, Mr. Custer, I don't wanna go.

By Joe Walther

 

It was not a typical Friday night at the Concord Mall located at the northern edge of Delaware just a stone’s throw from the Pennsylvania state line. About forty shoppers of varying ages and backgrounds had gathered at the café tables adjacent to the Sbarro Bistro and an array of other dining outlets. They sipped their various beverages and ate an assortment of foods like any other Friday night. What made this one different, however, was the topic of discussion: George Bush and the Iraqi war. I sat down and listened for close to an hour. The consensus was that George Bush has blown it in Iraq. My goodness, how things have changed since September 11, 2001.

 

            Had this conversation taken place on September 12, 2001, these people would have been ripping Bush bashers’ jugulars out. The same would have held on September 11, 2002 and 2003. The man still had a sizeable cadre of supporters in 2004. What’s happened? Also, note that none of these folks criticized Bush’s decision to go into Iraq. I don’t, either. I would not have done it at the time he did it, but once done, I had no criticism of it. However, his execution of the war has been another story altogether. Here’s what I think.

 

            On 9/11 in 2001, a group of 19 hijackers scored a stunning national gut-punch by destroying the World Trade Center buildings and attacking our Pentagon. I’m not going to rehash it here. If you want to see the devastation by the numbers, click here. For some insight into the total collateral impact on New York City, alone, click here. As bad as its impact was on our national pride and sensitivities, it has become worse over the past 5-years.

 

            Osama bin Laden’s motivation has always been to rally all of Islam against the infidels of the West. He put the United States on formal notice of his intent to bring jihad to us by his 1998 bombing of two of our embassies in East Africa. He sent another message of his intentions when he ordered the suicide bombing of the U.S.S. Cole. These attacks failed to rally Islam to his cause and recruiting jihadists remained as difficult as ever. Nevertheless, the 9/11 attacks would begin to change all of this.

 

            The entire world was as stunned as we were over the 9/11 attacks. When Mr. Bush gathered the Cavalry and charged into Afghanistan in hot pursuit, the world community rallied behind us. Our response was righteous and expected. Even though we didn’t catch the gang leader, we captured or killed several gang members and scattered the remnants of al-Qaeda members in Afghanistan to the winds. In the process we were able to replace the Taliban sheriff with one more amenable to our goals, thus depriving the al-Qaeda gang of a safe haven for recruiting and training more members.

 

            It seemed that, once again, Osama’s tactics failed to net the desired result of rallying all of Islam against the Western Infidels. Oh, and let us not forget about the Jews. Osama’s not too crazy about them, either.

 

(Please Mr. Custer, I don’t wanna go.)

 

            We began to feel better about ourselves. The Afghanis began to feel better about themselves, especially the females. We were riding high. They were riding high. We could have continued the pursuit. We could have attempted to help the Afghanis stem the opium trade and lessen the warlord plague in that country. Yes, we could have done these things, but we didn’t. In fact, the news outlets rarely mention Afghanistan now. Instead, George split his cavalry and led another charge, this time into Iraq. All of that great Afghanistan press now seems neutralized by the blunders in Iraq.

 

(Hey, Mr. Custer, please don’t make me go.)

 

            Donald Rumsfeld decided to disband the Iraqi Army and refused to commit an adequate number of troops to the initial invasion. He’s committed other blunders as well. Declaring the man incompetent is an understatement. However, the Sunni extremists hatred of the Shias has compounded the blunders. Having the Shias finally begin to fight back has the country on the precipice of a civil war. We’re now in the middle of it.

 

(I had a dream last night about the comin’ fight.)

 

            Regardless of what Bush claims, things are not going well in Iraq. Not being able to link Saddam Hussein to al-Qaeda conclusively, failing to find any credible evidence of weapons of mass destruction, and the Bush folks’, including Tony Blair, refusal to utter so much as an “oops”, has turned world opinion against us.

 

(Somebody yelled “attack!”)

 

            George Bush’s knack for confusing things has handed Osama bin Laden all of the ammunition he needs to accomplish his goal of turning all of Islam against the western infidel. Crippling al-Qaeda as a terrorist organization does little good if your actions embolden the underlying ideals of such an organization. Osama now has what he needs to convince the Muslim world that all of Islam is under attack by the infidel and that jihad is now a duty.

 

(What am I doing here?)

 

            I am certainly not an expert on these matters. However, I do understand that radicals on every side of an issue can’t survive without unfounded fear replacing reason. Instilling unfounded fear requires enemies. If they can’t find any real ones, they make some up. In this respect, Osama bin Laden and Karl Rove are not very different, with the exception that Osama is better at it than Karl is.

 

            I also know that the Osamas of the world are dangerous. So are the Roves. The Islamic extremists mean to kill us. Make no mistake about it and we must stop them. The entire world has a stake in destroying al-Qaeda-like groups as well as the ideology that gives them purpose. However, we need to use a higher level of mentality than George Bush has so far demonstrated in order to accomplish this.

 

            General George Armstrong Custer and George Bush have some things in common. Custer was not very bright and Bush seems intent on demonstrating to the world that he’s not quite as bright. Custer’s ego swelled out of proportion to reality because Grant promoted him to the temporary rank of Brigadier General at the age of twenty-three. This coupled with a monumental level of arrogance made him colossally stupid and careless.

 

            George Bush acquired his ego and stupidity later in life. Some people have said that he was quite the drinker for much of his earlier years. Medical experts claim that excessive alcohol consumption destroys brain cells. I don’t know if this is true in either case. However, given George’s penchant for refusing to let facts interfere with his perception of reality, I’d say that the claims are true.

 

(Please, Mr. Custer, I don’t wanna go.)

 

See you next week. And for those around my age, if you want the complete lyrics to “Please, Mr. Custer, I don’t wanna go,” click here.

 

Joseph Walther is a freelance writer and publisher of The True Facts. Send your comments. Just click here.