Thank You, George W. Bush

Photo by Jack GouldFor showing the leadership to invade Iraq, thank you, George W. Bush.

For forever ending Saddam Hussein's bloodthirsty regime, thank you, George W. Bush.

For liberating the Iraqis, thank you, George W. Bush.

For liberating some Iraqis from their limbs, thank you, George W. Bush.

For launching this war in the face of monumental worldwide opposition, thank you, George W. Bush.

For proving to be a uniter—one who has united a growing anti-war movement—thank you, George W. Bush.

For proving to be a divider—one who has divided families, friends and much of the world—thank you, George W. Bush.

For turning next-door neighbors who once got along famously into mortal enemies because one has a son in the service and the other is vehemently anti-war, thank you, George W. Bush.

For telling us the war would be over quickly, thank you, George W. Bush.

For telling us you never said the war would be over quickly, thank you, George W. Bush.

For telling us the war could last for quite a long time, thank you, George W. Bush.

For trying to divert attention from your own flawed war plan, thank you, George W. Bush.

For instead laying the blame on the media and the ex-military men they've relied on as experts, thank you, George W. Bush.

For supplying images that will forever be burned in our brains, thank you, George W. Bush.

For one of those images being a little Iraqi girl with a lifetime's worth of sadness in her eyes as she is carried out of a building blown apart by a U.S. bomb, thank you, George W. Bush.

For giving Osama bin Laden exactly what he wanted—televised pictures of American bombs killing Muslim civilians, no matter how noble our intentions—thank you, George W. Bush.

For making our Middle Eastern and Muslim-American brethren cower at the prospect of dirty looks, discrimination and hate crimes, thank you, George W. Bush.

For making your shady election infinitely more ignominious, thank you, George W. Bush.

For using your search for “weapons of mass destruction” as a weapon of mass distraction to divert our attention from a crappy economy, thank you, George W. Bush.

For using your search for “weapons of mass destruction” as a weapon of mass distraction to divert our attention from more tax cuts for the rich, thank you, George W. Bush.

For using your search for “weapons of mass destruction” as a weapon of mass distraction to divert our attention from corporate scandals inching closer and closer to George W. Bush, thank you, George W. Bush.

For making the leaders of our former foes the Germans, the Japanese, the Russians and the Chinese seem reasonable compared to you, thank you, George W. Bush.

For “freedom” fries, thank you, George W. Bush.

For “freedom” toast, thank you, George W. Bush.

For “freedom” vanilla ice cream, thank you, George W. Bush.

For making many of us who used to hate the French suddenly love the French, thank you, George W. Bush.

For making many of us who used to hate the Dixie Chicks suddenly love the Dixie Chicks, thank you, George W. Bush.

For putting thousands of young American men and women in harm's way for the ultimate purpose of securing more foreign oil, thank you, George W. Bush.

For doing this when your administration has done all it can to block fuel-efficiency standards, thank you, George W. Bush.

Ditto the development of alternative-energy sources.

And—here in California—our claims of market manipulation by power providers, whom you defended while instead blaming California for not building enough power plants, thank you, George W. Bush.

For launching this war when our elementary schoolchildren go begging for books, thank you, George W. Bush.

For launching this war when our college students face higher fees and fewer classes, thank you, George W. Bush.

For putting Dr. Evil (a.k.a. Donald “Rummy” Rumsfeld) on my tele every day, thank you, George W. Bush.

For making our daughters anxious because they believe you will draft their big brothers, thank you, George W. Bush.

For bringing Marine Corporal Jose Angel Garibay home to Costa Mesa in a body bag, thank you, George W. Bush.

For making our young children fear the “shock and awe” that has rocked Iraq will inevitably rock us here, thank you, George W. Bush.

For making all of us exponentially more fearful of those children's futures, thank you, George W. Bush.

For not making any of us feel one wit “safer,” thank you, George W. Bush.