Sacrifice

The theme of President Bush's new Iraq plan, we were told, is 'sacrifice'. And gosh, us Americans sure do understand sacrifice! After 9/11, as the country went to war, the President asked a great sacrifice of Americans... go shopping some more and don't ask too many questions. It was a lot to ask, but most Americans did their part.

Since that time, and especially after the President elected to start a new war that made little sense, some Americans (who clearly weren't sufficiently patriotic) began to ask questions about why the President wasn't asking for greater sacrifices (ie. rescinding his dubious tax cuts, demanding those who support the war enlist, etc) for a cause he called the most important in U.S. history? The other night, on PBS Newshour, the President explained that Americans are already making a great sacrifice-

LEHRER: Let me ask you a bottom-line question, Mr. President. If it is as important as you’ve just said - and you’ve said it many times - as all of this is, particularly the struggle in Iraq, if it’s that important to all of us and to the future of our country, if not the world, why have you not, as president of the United States, asked more Americans and more American interests to sacrifice something? The people who are now sacrificing are, you know, the volunteer military - the Army and the U.S. Marines and their families. They’re the only people who are actually sacrificing anything at this point.

BUSH: Well, you know, I think a lot of people are in this fight. I mean, they sacrifice peace of mind when they see the terrible images of violence on TV every night. I mean, we’ve got a fantastic economy here in the United States, but yet, when you think about the psychology of the country, it is somewhat down because of this war.

Thanks for continuing to do your part by not changing the channel, Americans!

Meanwhile, big talk is being made out of the news that Democratic senators have introduced "a resolution opposing President George W. Bush's plan to send 21,000 additional US troops to Iraq as 'not in the national interest of the United States'." This bill is already gaining support from some Republicans; a similar resolution is expected in the House. Of course, as Stephen Colbert mocked on Tuesday night, this is a non-binding resolution. I understand the political realities they are working in, but political timidy got us into this mess... we need something more than symbols to get us out.

By the way, the cost of this debacle? $1.2 trillion. Oh, and thousands of lives.

[PS- Prime Minister al-Maliki to Bush: Give us all your guns and then you can go.]