The Post-Speech World
Mar. 17th, 2003 08:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jducoeurWell, that was almost comically easy to deconstruct -- the usual even mixture of actual truth, unsupported assertions, and a bit of outright legal nonsense, blended together to justify the war. I'm a bit disappointed: I was hoping that he would at least come up with something new. And I have a nasty feeling that the clumsy propaganda, aimed at the Iraqis, in the middle of the speech may well backfire.
I have to say, the thing I found most striking was how small Bush looked. Especially at the beginning, he looked like nothing quite so much as a terrified boy, sure that he was going to be called on the carpet. He gained some confidence as he went along, but this was generally just a shadow of the impressive post-9/11 speech.
The hell of it is, I agree with the basic principle: that Saddam Hussein is an evil bastard who deserves to be deposed. But on both principle and practice, this is the wrong way to do it -- openly flouting international law and opinion to go barging in. If the US is going to deserve its leading position in the world, it should be leading the rest, not ignoring them...
I have to say, the thing I found most striking was how small Bush looked. Especially at the beginning, he looked like nothing quite so much as a terrified boy, sure that he was going to be called on the carpet. He gained some confidence as he went along, but this was generally just a shadow of the impressive post-9/11 speech.
The hell of it is, I agree with the basic principle: that Saddam Hussein is an evil bastard who deserves to be deposed. But on both principle and practice, this is the wrong way to do it -- openly flouting international law and opinion to go barging in. If the US is going to deserve its leading position in the world, it should be leading the rest, not ignoring them...