Asleep And Dreaming

By Todd Huffman
Created Dec 26 2006 - 7:12pm

'Twas the week before Christmas, and all through the White House, not a
measure of reality was stirring, not even an ounce.

Incoming Defense Secretary Robert Gates this week marked his swearing in
ceremony by warning Americans that "failure in Iraq at this juncture would
be a calamity that would haunt our nation, impair our credibility, and
endanger Americans for decades to come."

Was he kidding us? Foretold by millions of Americans and people around the
world in the run-up to war, Gates' predicted calamity has already come to
pass. Failure in Iraq is already a foregone conclusion. Now it is simply a
matter of how many more soldiers and civilians will pay the ultimate price
before Congress and the White House finally stop chasing more good lives
after good lives.

But the quote most upsetting was given by President Bush in an interview
granted to People magazine [1], in which he remarked that he was sleeping
much better than people would assume. If I were a solider, or the relative
of one, I would be outraged by this comment.

No, sir, Mr. President, that answer is incorrect. The correct answer is "I
spend every minute of every day concerned over our soldiers and their
families, and over the millions of innocent Iraqi civilians who want nothing
more than a peaceful country they can call their own. I will not rest easy
until our troops are home safe to their families with the mission I've given
them completed".

The President's statement, as much or more than any other he's ever given,
demonstrates how detached the man is from the whirlwind he has created. Mr.
President, sir, the country is simply not put at ease knowing that its
commander-in-chief is comfortably dreaming of sugar-plum fairies night in
and night out while its sons and daughters are fighting and dying for a
winless war, your war, one wholly unnecessary for and threatening to the
security of our great nation.

So, dear reader, I need your help. Being as most Americans are quite
preoccupied this week searching high and low for more ways to spend money to
save money in order to celebrate the birth of a man who preached giving away
all one's earthly possessions, most everyone except readers of People
Magazine will miss the President's awful quote.

We need to send it wide and send it far, to the North Pole and to Bethlehem,
to Kabul and to Baghdad, and to anyone serving or related to someone serving
in the military. Our soldiers need to know that while their nation loses
sleep worrying for them, wishing for their safe return home from their
Mesopotamian nightmare, their commander-in-chief sleeps easily, more easily
than they'd ever assume.

Full Quote: "But I must tell you, I'm sleeping a lot better than people
would assume."

--
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"A little patience and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their
spells dissolve, and the people recovering their true sight, restore their
government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are
suffering deeply in spirit,
and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public
debt. But if the game runs sometimes against us at home we must have
patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an opportunity of winning
back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are at
stake."
-Thomas Jefferson