“Bush’s speech: the meanings behind the words”Samaha added: “The speech that was made yesterday is only a compilation of the speeches that were made before and they mean only one thing: Bush is not only going forth with his destructive war, he intends to deepen it and even expand it. Thus he used for his own interest a well-known Israeli slogan that says: what is not solved with force can be solved with more force. Let us try to read the speech: he said: the American forces are engaged in a battle that will set the course of the universal war on terrorism and the future of American national security. He means: this explanation for the fighting means that it will continue. The intention behind this explanation is to justify the war with empty threats to scare the Americans so that they will forget that Iraq has never constituted a threat to them and that attacking it was by choice and that terrorism came to its land later on.”
Samaha continued: “He said: The new strategy will help win the war. He means: victory is still a viable target which necessitates dropping any call for a settlement. Bush had already announced that the “mission is over” then he had announced the first “strategy for victory” and now he is doing it again in the consideration that adding the adjective “new” to the strategy is enough to get results that were impossible to attain before. He said: we wagered on the elections and the training of the Iraqi force but. He means: we, the administration, do not understand a thing about the complex Iraqi reality so that the elections and the training of the forces came out as part of building up and arming the Iraqi divisiveness. He said: the result of 2006 was negative especially after the attacks on the shrines and the start of the sectarian violence. He means: the situation was better before that then bang! And since the attack happened less than a year ago and caused confrontations that wasted the lives of dozens of thousands of people, we waited all this [time] to do something.”
Samaha added: “He said: the current situation is unacceptable and I am responsible and there must be a change. He means: I want to “amend” the desire expressed by the American people in the congressional elections. They didn’t vote for pulling out of Iraq but for “changing” the plan. Since I am responding to the desires I attribute to the people then, although I am responsible, I shouldn’t be punished. He said: We held some negotiations and we benefited from the Baker-Hamilton report and we confirmed that there is no magical solution but failure will be catastrophic for the United States. He then concludes after spelling out the results of failure by confirming that success is a must. He means: We faked listening to other opinions but we arrived at a result that says that the current failure being used against us is the best argument we have so we are continuing down this road because we have failed as failure justifies even more failure.”
Samaha continued: “He said: the security in Baghdad is a top priority because the sectarian violence is entrenched over there. There are promises from the Iraqi government that they will help. He means: the essence of the solution in Iraq is military and not political. The new American role will be connected to the sectarian violence (he doesn’t use the words “civil war”) as we will stand first with this side [the Shi’is] then with the opposing one [the Sunnis]. If we didn’t succeed then we will blame the Iraqis for not helping us enough. He says: we committed two mistakes: not providing enough forces and the constraints on the operations of the forces. He means: search for those responsible for these mistakes. I have always repeated that I will obey the field commanders as long as they agreed with me so when they differed with me I fired them. He says: in the past, we cleared an area then pulled out but this tactic will change as we will enter all the areas. Al-Maliki has given us a green light. He means: this time I will lie to the Americans and the world more fluently. The slogan that was used in the previous victory strategy was “liberate, control, and build”. We didn’t implement it. It seems that Al-Maliki, or those who preceded him, had not found the button for the green light.”
Samaha added: “He said: I clarified to the Iraqis that they might lose our support and they seem to have understood this. He means: we will not be held responsible. But the American citizens have to forget what I said earlier in the speech about the terribly dangerous results of not succeeding. He said: there are other procedures demanded from the Iraqi government: the securing of the provinces, dividing the oil wealth, spending ten billion dollars, creating jobs, expanding the political process, re-evaluating the de-Ba’thification policies, developing a compromise over the amendments to the constitution...He means: the Iraqis have to correct the mass of mistakes committed by the occupation that I didn’t mention in the speech. The victim has to help organize the operations of the executioner. The reward for this will be that what Halliburton and its friends have stolen will be given to the Iraqi “friends”. He said: we will benefit from the Baker-Hamilton recommendations concerning the training of the Iraqi army. He means: since I don’t want anyone to say that I threw the report of the “wise men” aside, I chose from it only one recommendation which happens to be, coincidentally, the one directed to me by my national security advisor Steven Hadley.”
Samaha continued: “He said: we will continue to hunt Al-Qa’idah and we will pay special attention to the Al-Anbar province. He means: the war is endless. While we are waiting for 4,000 new soldiers for Al-Anbar we hunted Al-Qa’idah in Somalia!. He said: Iran and Syria are responsible for the deterioration in Iraq. We will face all those who give weapons to our enemies and we will seek out their networks and destroy them. He means: forget any dialogue with Tehran or Damascus. The United States will continue deepening the war and even maybe expanding it. The Baker-Hamilton report and any other suggestion about preparing a stable environment to treat the Iraqi situation is meaningless. I wasn’t under the influence of the “neoconservatives” because, in this regard, I am one of them.”
Samaha added: “He said: we will encourage the countries in the region, especially the Gulf Cooperation Council countries and Egypt and Jordan, to support Iraq. These countries must understand that America’s defeat in Iraq constitutes a threat to them. Condoleezza Rice is going to the region to build up support for Iraq and to continue the necessary diplomacy to bring about peace in the Middle East. He means: there is a basis for an alliance between the United States and the “Arab moderates”: both factions are fighting extremism. We will not use democracy to pressure our friends if they start considering the occupation as a guarantee for themselves and if they help convince the Iraqi insurgents to give up sovereignty. If the Arab moderates want to settle the conflicts in the region then they have to forget about a comprehensive solution and settle for cosmetic movements in the Palestinian-Israeli tracks, despite the knowledge that this might lead to internal Palestinian fighting.”
Samaha continued: “He said: we are fighting the decisive ideological battle in our time and the American interests necessitate that we advance freedom. He means: I haven’t forgotten that democracy is the excuse that I used to justify the war after the bankruptcy of the weapons of mass destruction excuse. It is ok to bring it back to mind as a long term goal. But politically, the duality of moderation-extremism is the replacement for democracy-totalitarianism. He said: we expect losses but we will succeed. He means: I will not commit any of my previous mistakes. It is ok to introduce a little bit of forewarning. We must alert the Americans that the battle is tough while promising them that we will succeed, they hate losing and not the occupation. He said: our enemies’ surrender will not come through celebrations. The democratic Iraq will not be perfect but it will fight terrorism. He means: the battle is long and Iraq might not leave the tunnel into which it has entered.
He said: we studied the other options available to us but we found them unsuitable. But dispute this - we will continue consulting with the congress and we will form a special committee for this end. He means: Bush is the same before and after the congressional elections. He sees no harm in negotiating as he will not act on any opinion that disagrees with him. The president is the one that makes the decisions, those who do not like this, then let them try to break these decisions.” - Al-Akhbar Lebanon, Lebanon
