[Peace-discuss] Greg Palast: Mr. Tall and Mr. Small

[Lisa Chason]

For those who missed Greg Palast's sharp comments on the 1st
'Presidential'debate:

Mr. Tall and Mr. Small
By Greg Palast

Thursday September 30, 2004

Our President told the debate audience, "You cannot lead if you send
mexxed
missiges."  I certainly hope not.

But that's exactly what we got.  You watch our President, the nervous
hand-hiding, the compulsive water-glass-fondling, the panicked
I-wish-I-had-a-whiskey look, and you think, "My god, this is the guy
who's
supposed to save us from al Qaeda."

And how are we going to win the War on Terror, Mr. President?   "First
of
all, of course I know Osama bin Laden attacked us. I know that," he
said.
Well, that's a start, I suppose.

But it doesn't have to stay this way.  This is America, home of the
brave
and where, I remember from school, we could vote for president and the
votes
would count.  So we looked to the tall man next to him to show us the
way
out.

In Iraq, "We don't have enough troops there," said the tall one.
Really,
Senator? We should send MORE?  Not exactly:  Mr. Tall's got a plan to
get
our troops out.   He'll have a big meeting of "allies," and after he
talks
with them, they will all jump up and volunteer to send THEIR kids to
Fallujah.   France and Indonesia and Kuwait can't wait to ship in
soldiers
and extra body bags.  Right.  We love you, John, but there's no band of
Hobbits coming to the rescue -- that's just a movie.

Well, he looked kind of "presidential."  But given the line-up includes
Nixon, Ford and two Bushes, that's not a big trick.

I'm sorry.  I know I'm supposed to stand up and cheer that John Kerry
didn't
get Gored.   In fact, if you look at presidential debates the way the
media
plays it, as something akin to Olympic figure skating, where you score
for
the competitor's style, you could say Kerry won.

But I don't feel WE won anything.

I mean, when Jim Lehrer asked how the candidates would make America safe
from terrorists, Mr. Tall said he'd hire more firemen.  And add more
cops.
Maybe he thought he was running for mayor.

It was disappointing, but then Mr. Small's answer was downright
frightening.
We have to "stay on the offensive," and "stay on the offense," and "I
repeat, stay on the offense."  We have no doubt that Mr. Small can be
extraordinarily offensive, but even he can't take his offensiveness to
the
bad guys if he doesn't know where they are.  And on that point, he's
clueless.

There were two words I was hoping to hear from Mr. Tall:  "Saudi" and
"Arabia."  Imagine if he laid it on the line,  "The terrorists didn't
put
the hijackings on a credit card, Mr. President.  Their Saudi sponsors
are
fattening on the bloated war-driven price of oil.  But you can't touch
your
buck-buddies in the Gulf, can you, Mr. President?.  As
Commander-in-Chief,
I'd cut'm off at the spigots, beginning with the release of oil from our
Strategic Petroleum Reserve.  And then I'd seize their fat assets in the
USA
to compensate the victims of terror attacks."

When Mr. Tall was asked what whoppers the President has told us, surely
there was something a bit more memorable than Mr. Small's failing to win
over allies for his whacky crusade.

Here's what Mr. Tall said . in my dreams:

*  "Beginning in March 2001, your Administration began a series of
meetings
with oil company executives to map the conquest of Iraq and its oil, a
plan
Americans would pay for in blood.  You originally called this scheme,
'Operation Iraqi Liberation' -- O.I.L.  We don't appreciate your little
joke, Mr. Small."

*  "One month after seizing Baghdad you fired General Jay Garner, the
man
you put in charge of Iraq, after he called for rapid elections in Najaf;
after he refused to impose your plans to sell off Iraq's oil fields.  In
Najaf, citizens denied ballots, turned to bullets.  And then, as General
Garner predicted, the seizure of Iraq's assets resulted in the type of
war
one expects -- when seeking to impose colonial control."

*  "Mr. Small, you claim we've given a thousand lives to bring democracy
to
the Mid-east.  But so far, your democracy, Mr. Small, comes down to a
puppet
prime minister, we've installed in Iraq and a puppet government, the
Saudis
have installed in Washington."

OK, I can't expect all that in a presidential debate, where the message
has
to fit through a tube.  But still, Mr. Tall could have won my vote with
two
words.  It's the two-word answer John Kerry gave three decades ago when
asked the same question -- "How can we get our troops out of a
disastrous
war?"

Then, the clear-minded, tall young men said, "In ships."

==================
View Greg Palast's exclusive interview with General Jay Garner for BBC
Television in the film, "Bush Family Fortunes," available this week on
DVD
in an updated edition from Ryko at
http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/video/39944000/rm/_39944105_iraq_palast19mar
_vi.
ram

To receive Greg's investigative reports hot off the press click here:
http://www.gregpalast.com/contact.cfm
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