Send
The Bush Twins To Iraq!
By Ralph Nader
14 March, 2007
Democracy Rising
On
many occasions, President George W. Bush has lectured the American people
that "amidst all this violence and bloodshed" in Iraq, "is
the sacrifice worth it? It is worth it, and it is vital to the security
of our country.
Well then, why don't his
daughters, 25 year olds Barbara and Jenna join the armed services and
share in the sacrifice? Or is the sacrifice only to be borne overwhelmingly
by lower-income whites, Hispanics and African-Americans who comprise
the bulk of the casualties?
Mr. Bush is constantly speechifying
to the American people, and increasingly failing to secure their support.
Nearly 70 percent of Americans want out of Iraq and believe it was not
worth the price. Americans may be wondering why neither Bush, nor Cheney,
nor the neocons, who fabricated the causes for invading Iraq, nor the
corporate bosses raking in war profits why neither they nor their
families are showing any signs of sacrifice?
By contrast, across the Atlantic
Ocean in England, the British Defense Ministry announced last month
that "His Royal Highness Prince Harry will deploy to Iraq later
this year." Harry, age 22, is a second lieutenant who insists on
going to Iraq with the soldiers under his command.
"There's no way I'm
going to put myself through Sandhurst (the military academy), and then
sit on my arse back home while my boys are out fighting for their country,"
he told a television interviewer.
It is not as if Prince Harry
is a stern, militant young fellow. The New York Times called him "something
of a playboy prince," who frequents "London's more exclusive
nightclubs."
Jenna and Barbara like to
go out on the town as well. /The Washington Post/ reported in early
January that the twins went out "with a well-heeled entourage
crushed velvet sport coats for the men, trendy leggings, silk dresses
and platform heels for the women," before Barbara heads back "to
New York and her job at the Cooper-Hewitt museum" and Jenna returns
"to her UNICEF gig in Central America."
The old nineteen sixties
phrase, "if you're not part of the risk, you won't be part of the
solution" applies to the Bush family. It's even worse. Some of
Bush's relatives are involved in the war business, making money from
their participation in companies and firms thriving off Defense Department
contracts. (See Democracyrising.us)
Himself an adroit avoider
of the Vietnam era draft, using his connections to enlist in the Texas
Air National Guard that was not slated to embark for southeast Asia,
George W. Bush finds solace in saying that he is "in awe of the
men and women who sacrifice for the freedom of the United States of
America, who volunteer to confront our adversaries abroad so we do not
have to face them here at home."
With such an awe-inspiring
mission in Iraq to which he and Cheney have tied our country, its soldiers
and its strained budget of billions of dollars, one might imagine George
and Laura having a fireside chat in the White House with their able
and spirited daughters about joining this noble Iraq mission in uniform.
Imagine further what Privates
Jenna and Barbara would have to tell a President known for his traits
of not listening and not admitting any mistakes (note the bungling Iraq
occupation, the post-Katrina debacles and the recent Walter Reed deprivations
which are never the fault of this no-fault Commander in Chief).
Let's envision the twins
back on leave as medics from their first deployment to Baghdad sitting
with father in the family quarters upstairs in the White House.
Jenna: "Daddy, you must
listen to us and not ignore what we want to say, as you have disregarded
our e-mails. Most of our soldiers in Iraq have lost faith and want the
U.S. out of there. If you don't believe me, look at this year old Zogby
poll reporting 72 percent of the soldiers want the U.S. out in six months
to a year. And things are much worse now."
Barbara: "Daddy, you're
spending $12 million an hour in Iraq and the soldiers are still short
of body armor, armored vehicles and communications equipment. Still!
Four years after the war started. Much of their equipment needs repair
or replacement and there is no money. One of your Congressional critics
reacting to the Department of Defense's Inspector General report of
January 2007 said: "If our troops aren't the priority, who is?
Halliburton, Blackwater, other corporate chums of the President?"
The President: "Reports,
polls, what nonsense; what are your soldier friends fighting courageously
over there against those hit and run cowards telling you?"
Barbara: "Some were
too ripped up in the hospitals to tell us, but we knew they were torn
apart by IEDs in their unprotected vehicles. We can tell you other horrible
eye-witness stories about undertrained and underequipped national guardsmen
and reservists. It won't inspire you, but we can tell you, if you wish.
We're on the receiving end of the battered men and women who come to
us on stretchers."
The President: "Don't
bother, Barbara, Jenna, it all keeps me and Laura up at night, worrying
so about you. I hear you. I hear you."
If you agree that having
Jenna and Barbara join the armed forces will help bring George W. Bush
closer to bringing the soldiers home and ending this boomeranging war-occupation,
express you support to:
Bush Twins to Iraq
Democracy Rising
PO Box 18485
Washington, D.C., 20036
or visit: democracyrising.us
Ralph Nader is the author
of The Seventeen Traditions