Thursday, March 31, 2005

The Frightened Man

William Pitt writes at Truthout about George W. Bush, the Frightened Man: "It is not terrorism that motivates George, or patriotism, or even profiteering. It is fear, pure and simple: Fear of the truth, fear of the world, fear of any data that collides with his faith-based bubble-encapsuled worldview, and fear most of all of the people he would represent. You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you. Now we know, and the knowledge is deeply and profoundly disturbing."
I believe this to be true.
As I sat watching the press conference Bush held just before he went to war in Iraq, it gradually dawned on me that I was watching a terrified man -- so scared, he could hardly speak. How horrifying to realize that the President of the United States was a coward who wanted every American to be as afraid as he was -- ". . . we live in a dangerous world. We live in new circumstances in our country. . . . I know [people] remember the tragedy of September the 11th, but I hope they understand the lesson of September the 11th. The lesson is, is that we're vulnerable to attack, wherever it may occur, and we must take threats which gather overseas very seriously . . . "
And that was BEFORE anyone had seen the seven minutes when Bush, confronted with an unprecedented demand for courage, could do nothing but sit frozen with fear.

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