Bush's delusional Middle East policies

Posted by David DeGraw at 10:11 AM on August 6, 2006.

Condoleezza Rice was on Meet the Press to discuss the Bush administration's Middle East policies. During the interview, Tim Russert devastatingly summed up how dangerous and completely out of touch with reality these policies have become.

In clip one, Russert points to recent comments by Richard Haass, the former Bush official who now runs the Council on Foreign Relations. Haass scoffs at Bush referring to the current conflict between Israel and Hezbollah as "a moment of opportunity" and says:

"An opportunity? Lord, spare me. I don't laugh a lot. That's the funniest thing I've heard in a long time. If this is an opportunity, what's Iraq? A once-in-a-lifetime chance?"

In clip two, Russert discusses how "hundreds of thousands" of Iraqis demonstrated in support of Hezbollah and burned American Flags. He references an AP report that says the demonstrations were the biggest in the Middle East and goes on to ponder whether or not the Bush administration has created another Iran in Iraq.

In the final clip, Condeleezza sticks to the administration's delusional talking points by stating that 'Iraq is far better off today.' However, Russert quickly exposes the ridiculous talking point by quoting U.S. General Abizaid's and William Patey's (former UK ambassador to Baghdad) recent statements on how Iraq is more likely to slip into civil war then transition to democracy.

Check out these clips and let's just hope the US press can continue to expose Bush's delusions… I won't hold my breath.

David DeGraw is AlterNet's video blogger.