Most of those troops would still be alive if they weren't sent to a needless invasion of Iraq. Nothing he does can ever atone for that, try as he might.
On Dec 22, 12:43�pm, "[email protected]" <[email protected]> wrote: > December 22, 2008 > americanthinker.com > Rick Moran > > Many readers of this site - including yours truly - have disagreed > vehemently with George Bush on numerous occasions. Unlike the left, > however, most of us have seen the president as a decent, God-fearing > man who took office and served during perhaps the most consequential > period of American history since the Civil War. > > He will never, ever be vouchsafed this decency by the left - no matter > if the evidence comes up and smacks them over the head. > > Here's the bludgeon: > > For much of the past seven years, President Bush and Vice President > Dick Cheney have waged a clandestine operation inside the White House. > It has involved thousands of military personnel, private presidential > letters and meetings that were kept off their public calendars or > sometimes left the news media in the dark. > > Their mission: to comfort the families of soldiers who died fighting > in Afghanistan and Iraq since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and to > lift the spirits of those wounded in the service of their country. > > On Monday, the president is set to make a more common public trip - > with reporters in tow - to Walter Reed Army Medical Center, home to > many of the wounded and a symbol of controversy earlier in his > presidency over the quality of care the veterans were receiving. > > But the size and scope of Mr. Bush's and Mr. Cheney's private > endeavors to meet with wounded soliders and families of the fallen far > exceed anything that has been witnessed publicly, according to > interviews with more than a dozen officials familiar with the effort. > > Bush says the reason he did it is simply that he felt it his duty to > do so. > > Mr. Bush, for instance, has sent personal letters to the families of > every one of the more than 4,000 troops who have died in the two wars, > an enormous personal effort that consumed hours of his time and > escaped public notice. The task, along with meeting family members of > troops killed in action, has been so wrenching - balancing the anger, > grief and pride of families coping with the loss symbolized by a flag- > draped coffin - that the president often leaned on his wife, Laura, > for emotional support. > > "I lean on the Almighty and Laura," Mr. Bush said in the interview. > "She has been very reassuring, very calming." > > Mr. Bush also has met privately with more than 500 families of troops > killed in action and with more than 950 wounded veterans, according to > White House spokesman Carlton Carroll. Many of those meetings were > outside the presence of the news media at the White House or at > private sessions during official travel stops, officials said. > > The first lady said those private visits, many of which she also > attended, took a heavy emotional toll, not just on the president, but > on her as well. > > Vice President Cheney also made an extraordinary effort to meet with > wounded soldiers and families of the deceased. > > A purely political observation is if the public knew of this herculean > effort on the part of Bush and Cheney - the sheer numbers being > incredible - I daresay the president's approval ratings would not be > hovering in the mid-20's. The demonization of Bush by the media and > the left would have been much more difficult and perhaps less > successful. > > But in the end, they were right to keep it a secret. Any hint of > politics in such an effort would have made the entire exercise seem > hypocritical. And you can bet that the media and the left would have > tried to paint any effort to visit and comfort the troops - such as > the massive undertaking described in the article - as PR window > dressing, nothing more. > > Bush has come in for a lot of criticism - much of it deserved - over > the years. But the portrayal of him as an unfeeling, uncaring man when > it came to the suffering of soldiers or citizens as a result of war or > natural disaster was always purely political. Even his most vigorous > supporters, however, could not have imagined the extent to which he > gave of his time and emotional energy to ease the suffering of > Americans who have given so much for America during his time in > office. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more. -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
