Suffering

In this video, Laura Bush explains to Ann Curry how President Bush and her have suffered the most from the Iraq War. No, you haven't. In fact, you haven't suffered at all. Neither have I. I saw the Tillman's give testimony before Congress the other day. They are the face of suffering. So are the others who have lost a father, or a mother, or a sister, or a brother, or a son, or a daughter.

In fact, this war was, by design, prosecuted as to make the few bear the burden of suffering. That is the real reason that we sent too few troops in the beginning, to compartmentalize the suffering and separate it from the general public. That way, they reasoned, the war would never become unpopular.

But something amazing happened. They didn't give the American public enough credit. Quite frankly, neither did I. Without having to suffer, the American people got the chance to look at the war objectively, and despite the fact that the media actively cheer leaded the war, they came to one conclusion. Why the fuck are we there? And why the fuck did we go there?

Thus the President now gets terrible numbers because the war is unpopular and so is he, but being unpopular is a long, long way from actual suffering.

Even Tim Russert gets it now, though he has a little trouble spelling it.