Mission accomplished: A dry drunk creates worldwide chaos
Saul Landau
Progreso Weekly, 16 March 2006
"Dry drunk is a slang term used by members and supporters of Alcoholics Anonymous and substance abuse counselors to describe the recovering alcoholic who is no longer drinking, one who is dry, but whose thinking is clouded. Such an individual is said to be dry but not truly sober. Such an individual tends to go to extremes."
"The dry drunk quits drinking, but his or her obsession with the bottle is often replaced with other obsessions."
- Katherine Von Wormer, Counterpunch.org, January, 22 2003
Wormer suggests that dry drunks tend to exaggerate self-importance and behave pompously. They exhibit grandiose, childish and irresponsible behavior, a rigid, judgmental outlook and impatience. They tend toward "irrational rationalization," and "projection overreaction."
- Counterpunch.org, October 11, 2003
"A dry drunk brings chaos to his family," a veteran AA member told me. "Remove him from the nest to a place where his need to channel his violent emotions will not hurt his immediate kin." Like the White House, where George W. Bush and his retinue of bunglers have filled scripts for countless comedians. But behind his façade of stupidity and malapropism, Bush has accomplished amazing feats. Look at the facts.
When the sign "Mission Accomplished" adorned el jefe’s greatest photo-op aboard the carrier Abraham Lincoln in May 2003, everyone assumed the words referred to conquering Iraq, not destroying it. The chaotic and deadly facts of Iraqi daily life (civil war?) bear this out. Bush may have projected, from the disaster in Iraq, an even more monumental task: the annihilation of the U.S. government as it has functioned for seven plus decades. Bush has gone beyond slashing funds for programs that help the poor in education, health and social services. Through gross ineptitude, cronyism and rampant corruption, Bush has destroyed whatever glimmer of confidence the public had retained in their government’s ability to provide.
How else should one interpret remarks like "You did a heck of a job Brownie," after Michael Brown’s agency, FEMA, failed to rescue dying people or provide the needy with food and shelter? Indeed, by praising such dereliction, Bush pushed the pubic to confront his federal government: ham-fisted acolytes ran bureaus that demanded professional and skilled personnel.
An August 28, 2005 video showed Bush apparently listening to hurricane experts issue dire warnings that Katrina could inundate New Orleans and spread death and destruction there. Days before Katrina struck, even inept FEMA officials alerted the President and Homeland security chief Michael Chertoff that the rushing waters could breach levees and overwhelm rescuers. Bush asked no questions.
On August 29, Katrina hit the city. Bush declared from his Texas ranch, "We are fully prepared." Four days later, he remained in Crawford, presumably watching TV images of bodies floating in the flood water and tens of thousands fleeing and seeking shelter that FEMA did not provide.
"I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees," Bush said. Did he not listen to the experts? Was he thinking about having a drink? Or did he see a way to accomplish one of his objectives?
Five days after the event, when no one could any longer ignore the facts of the mounting numbers of homeless, sick and dead people, Bush finally flew over the scene in Air Force One and commiserated with his buddy Senator Trent Lott (a multi millionaire) on the loss of one of his many homes.
If he wanted to destroy confidence in the government, what better way than by letting disaster happen! Did he know? Brown reported that Bush was "watching the television a lot, and … he's asking questions about reports of breaches." It is hard to believe that he couldn’t grasp the obvious – unless he had an ulterior motive: undermining citizens’ confidence that the federal government could help them in times of need.
Bush’s policies also made his immediate friends and family richer than they ever dreamed. Contracts for post Katrina New Orleans clean up even went to Halliburton and some of the other companies that had obtained (not "won" because there were no bids) lucrative contracts in Iraq. Those he once jocularly labeled as "my constituency, the haves and have mores" have received tax benefits and profits that derived directly from Bush’s policies. Indeed, the U.S. income gap has grown dramatically more skewed over the past five years.
Without any sense of shame, the Bushies handed a secret contract to a Dubai Company to run several U.S. ports. Behind the scenes, the Carlyle Group had obtained major interests in the Dubai company (Keith Olberman with David Sirota, forthcoming Hostile Takeover). The Bush family, coincidentally, holds considerable assets in Carlyle.
Like other "have mores," the major stock holders of Carlyle (which is run by former Defense Secretary Frank Carlucci), and similar groups that have benefited from five plus years of W in the White House, see the world more narrowly than most of us could imagine. They do not fret over headlines or pundits’ comments that foresee civil war in the very near future in Iraq. Nor do they care about approval ratings: W cannot run again.
Except for a small group of "haves and have mores" a substantial part of the 34% that approved of Bush’s performance in early March belong to the programmed soldiers of God – handled by those who claim to communicate regularly with Him.
They sneer at polls showing that only 30 percent of the public agree with his handling of Iraq. They snicker over polls showing that 72% of U.S. troops in Iraq think Bush should withdraw them within the year.
The troops understand that Bush’s specious reasoning for going to war produced disaster, which has cost 2,300 U.S. lives and over 100 thousand Iraqis. Thus far, ironically, Bush’s war has benefited the pro Iranian Shi’ites of Iraq and the ruling Party of Iran. Yet, Bush attacks the Iranian government to whom he has delivered Iraq and waxes optimistic on his failed war efforts – as if to deny daily disaster headlines and photos.
The extremely wealthy count their wealth and smile. The military industrial complex has never done better. In early March, in New Delhi, Bush pasted the kosher sign on India’s nuclear-weapons and energy-industry. Speculators who will invest in this proliferating radiation complex hailed Bush for abandoning the U.S. stance on non-proliferation. They became instant converts to sharing all kinds of sophisticated nuclear technology with India.
"Westinghouse welcomes Bush-India nuclear pact," read the March 3, 2006 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette headline. Westinghouse and other U.S. nuclear companies built reactors in the third world decades ago without safety features. In the mid 1970s, at India’s Tarapur plant, thousands of workers received their lifetime maximum radiation dose. The plant dismissed them, but neither the government nor the company provided medical follow-up. (Paul Jacobs, "What You Don’t Know May Hurt You," Mother Jones February, 1976) In Bush’s triumphant speeches he neglected to mention India’s history of nuclear negligence.
On March 3, when Bush addressed outsourcing, another ticklish issue, he attributed the practice to free market economics. "It's true that some Americans have lost jobs when their companies moved operations overseas. It's also important to remember that when someone loses a job, it's an incredibly difficult period for the worker and their families… My government is helping Americans who have lost their jobs get new skills for new careers. And we're helping to create millions of new jobs in both our countries by embracing the opportunities of a global economy."
In fact, Bush cut funds designed for developing new skills and careers and his policies have created less jobs than Clinton’s.
Job creation, however, is booming in Iraq where Halliburton and other "security" companies reap huge profits from no-bid contracts. Indeed, the military spews profits like gushers for its industrial and scientific partners.
While Democrats decried such policies they did not stop Bush from securing his pro "have more" agenda through the court. The Democrats allowed Bush’s Supreme and lower court nominees to go through the Senate. This means protection for ill-gotten wealth for decades to come. The poor, labor, the elderly and sick, racial minorities, lacking confidence that the government can help them, have no place to turn. The plutocrats hope they turn on each other.
Yes, let the comics joke about W. The super wealthy know he has served them well. The dry drunk in the White House causes less chaos for his parents, siblings, wife and children. The rest of the world has paid the price for his "Missions Accomplished."
Bush pretends to seek solace in fundamentalist religion, but Emily Dickinson had a more fitting metaphor for his dry drunk character.
"His heart was darker than the starless night
For that there is a morn
But in this black receptacle
Can be no bode of Dawn."
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