Quagmire.

So I stumbled across this article in my travels through The Huffington Post. Take a look; Bush-haters will like it. Personally, I found what Bush said to be naïve and very narcissistic, but that’s just my opinion. On a whim, I decided to ask my friend Katie Wilson, who happened to have seen Bush’s comment on CNN, how she felt about it. She is a freshman, biology major from Wisconsin, and she’s in choir with me. Katie’s brother just returned home from a year of service in Iraq and Kuwait. I was curious to see what she would say given her unique vantage point.

“When he left, he was really exciting about going. He thought it was going to be a really good cause. But as the months went by, his letters got more and more depressing. He escorted supply trucks back and forth between Kuwait to Northern Iraq. He never really experienced any difference that he himself was making in what he saw there. He had great experiences with individual people there, he gave children toys and things. But, from what he said, there is a lot more chaos and anarchy then there was. It’s dangerous, crime at night is up; some soldiers in my brother’s battalion didn’t make it back. From what I’ve read the cities are a lot less buttoned down then they were under Saddam.”

In my journalism class, we are learning about Watergate (I think this could possibly be the eleventh time I’ve “learned” about Watergate), but more specifically, the effect the scandal had on the media and how the government communicates with it’s constituents. I’m finding it difficult to really trust what people like President Bush and General Petraeus say most of the time. They have the precarious job of striking the exact balance between being honest with the public, and not freaking them out badly enough to incite a mob or create terrible administration ratings (well, they had their chance). There is always, always, always going to be a different perception to any given situation. That’s where the press comes in! Awesome, a blog and a career affirmation all wrapped into one!

I would also like to commend Bush for knowing the definition of “quagmire.” The President of the United States knew something I didn’t. I feel better now; every once in a while, he worries me.