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Friday, 28 March 2003
Bush and Blair ::
I watched part of Tony Blair and George Bush’s joint news conference Thursday morning. These men stand in such marked contrast with each other; Blair eloquent, fluid, even graceful, displaying genuine concern for the issues of the humanitarian situation in Iraq, and the necessity of mending diplomatic fences... Bush hard, absolute, unforgiving, almost stilted, as if reeling off sound bites he’s memorized in order to minimize the danger of putting his foot in his mouth.
One thing he said Wednesday morning made me afraid it may be lodged there permanently: “We will accept no outcome short of complete and final success.” This was in the context of a cheerleading speech at an Air Force base, but still, to me it was strikingly arrogant. What is a final success? Nothing is permanent in this world. Most violent conflicts leave behind unhappy losers, and in this case, the Iraqi people will be as much losers as Saddam’s regime, no matter how many words Bush uses to try to separate the two. Iraq wants freedom on its own terms. Freedom won and maintained by U.S. force does not appear to constitute freedom to the average Iraqi.
Update (29 Mar): A satirical movie someone made using footage from the a previous Bush/Blair press conference. (thanks Alec Saunders)
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