Bush Envy

"I must say, I'm a little envious," Bush said in a video conference with soldiers in Afghanistan. "It must be exciting for you ... in some ways romantic, in some ways, you know, confronting danger.

When you're wounded and left on Afghanistan's plains,
And the women come out to cut up what remains,
Just roll to your rifle and blow out your brains
An' go to your Gawd like a soldier.
~ Rudyard Kipling, The Young British Soldier

I guess I could go on and on about the sheer ignorance of Bush. You can't expect a "man" who's read the Cliff Notes version of Nietzsche, Clausewitz and The Red Badge of Courage to understand the nature of War. Bush never had to deal with the day-to-day grind of being in country.

In fact, Bush never:
- was exposed to the long periods of boredom punctuated by moments of terror.
- had to shave his face in contaminated water.
- shit and puked all over himself at the same time because he caught some form of dysentery.
- piss in a bottle because you don't feel like getting you helmet, flak, rifle, and boots to walk a quarter mile to a port-a-potty (actually with his penchant for an adult beverage I'm probably wrong about this one)
- had to set up traps to capture the Euphrates River rats.
- or clean up your gear after they shit all over it and worry about what your going to catch from the rat feces.
- lived through a mortar attack... or saw someone who didn't.

To Bush War is Romantic. To him it's a short story. Begun with an unprovoked Casus Beli, then followed by parades and sermons as the Righteous are assured God is on Our Side. Next comes a quick victory accentuated by few comments from the newly minted Men, who praise the dead and return home to more parades.

There of course the story ends and we never have to worry ourselves with the lack of medical care for the wounded (because they are hidden from our sight), never see the personal struggle of those dealing with the horrors they've seen.

And that's what our Glorious Leader has to look forward. When he departs on 01/20/09, he'll get to forget the wars he's started as though he's closing up a book. But for those he's cavalierly sent off the "Excitement" of War doesn't end when they come home.

Update 03/17:
As if on cue, US Representative Michele Bachmann (R-MN) declares God has not abandoned US for our glorious War in Iraq.