One of the best things about attending New York dinner parties especially ones where I am sick and can barely hold my head up during dinner – is that they begin with the opening salvo "What the hell does George Bush think he's..." and go on from there. No pussy-footing around here; sensitive, intelligent New Yorkers trust this administration about as much as mullahs in Yemen do. It's an instant starting point for most conversations, especially right now in history (when Bush is amping up the rhetoric on Iraq even as the U.N. inspectors aren't finding anything). We ended up talking to a cool couple named Andrew and Megan, all of us wondering why on Earth this government has such a hard-on for Hussein. I thought it was just a grasp for power, since a frightened American electorate is more than happy to hand the reins back to bellicose goons for as long as they appear to "get the job done." Tessa, however, thinks it's all about the money: pretty much every member of the Bush Cabinet has been cozy bedfellows with the major defense contractors.
I mean, it's got to be something, right? Short of showing a satellite photograph of a warehouse that says "ANTHRAX" in Arabic on top, the only motivation for this war - besides money and power - is sheer lunacy. That, or a true desire to see innocent Iraqi civilians shredded. Which, of course, would lead to more atrocious attacks on the United States... I mean, why am I even writing this? The whole thing is so mind-bendingly moronic that I have to believe that there is some other plan that we don't know.
It's pretty stunning to disagree with every fucking single goddamn decision this administration makes; in fact, it's making me physically ill. Moving to France can't come quickly enough, and when I get there, I'm going to pretend I'm Irish.
Posted by at December 4, 2002 8:17 PM