Predictable B.S.:

President George W. Bush, speaking as the conflict in Iraq enters its fourth year, said the terrorists who destroyed a Shiite shrine last month won’t succeed in sparking a civil war or thwarting democracy there.

Bush said today that he remains optimistic about the outcome of the war that defines his presidency, even though people in the U.S. are seeing “horrific images” from the recent sectarian violence.

“I understand how Americans have had their confidence shaken,” Bush told the City Club in Cleveland, a day after Iraq’s former prime minister said his country is in the midst of a civil war and edging toward a “point of no return.”

This is garbage, but not for the usual reason. We all know based on his conduct at home that Bush’s definition of “democracy” is not incompatible with sectarian conflict — one could argue it endorses it. Think about it: the elections in Iraq went overwhelmingly along religious & ethnic lines, neither the Sunni or Shia, nor the Kurds crossed their cultural divides. Bush pretty much got elected & re-elected along the same lines, the majority of his support coming from people who see themselves not as individuals but as a culture at constant war with “outsiders”.

Of course, the difference is ours use smear campaigns while they use bombs, but that’s to be expected considering the territory. Point is, in an environment without a unifying influence one cannot portray democracy & civil conflict as inherently opposed. They basically voted for civil war.

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