by Christine Smith

Bush's weekly radio address was just more propaganda in which he painted a false picture of Iraq and supposed achievement being made by our military forces there.

Whether such progress or achievement is true or false is irrelevant to the big picture (it is of course easily debated and in my opinion from research I've read little progress has been achieved) but again that is not the fundamental question.

The question is not how much the U.S. military is or is not achieving in Iraq, but why the US military is even in Iraq.

So while Bush prepares his photo-op address to the American Legion at their annual convention in Reno, more and more American troops will die and many more Iraqis will die for nothing except an arrogant egotists agenda. Bush, you say you intend to tell the American Legion why Iraq is critical to our nation's security, well why haven't you told the American people...and while we're at it, and why don't you have general Petraeus deliver his September report to the American people and Congress? Why must his and other reports come to your White House to be interpreted by you and only then given to us?

I for one do not want your Sec. of State or your Sec. of Defense to deliver a progress report (because that's all it will be a report citing all the 'progress' made, I want Gen. Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker to speak to Congress and the American people directly, and their findings widely distributed through media. I do not trust any interpretation from your White House.

I read some results from a very interesting CNN research poll taken August 6-8 which asked:

'As you may know, in September the top U.S. commander in Iraq will report to the President and Congress about how the war is going. Do you trust him to report what's really going on in Iraq without making the situation sound better than it actually is, or don't you feel that way?'

43% responded: Trust him to report what's really going on

53% responded: Do not trust him to report what's really going on

Whatever Gen. Petraeus' and Amb. Crocker's perceptions and findings they should be given to Congress directly not written by your White House.

Bush your surge is doing nothing but increasing the death toll on all sides. But, meanwhile, you tell us 'by driving out the terrorists from cities and neighborhoods, we're creating the conditions for reconciliation,' but the truth is Prime Minister al-Maliki has condemned the U.S. military raids in Shiite neighborhoods. And Iraq is now incurring about double the number of war related deaths than compared with last year.

The government of Iraq is far from any peaceful political reconciliation, so the civil war continues with our men and women right there in it.

You say we're still in the 'early stages of our new operations...' Translation: You have no intention of withdrawing our troops--saving their lives nor saving the lives of innocent Iraqi civilians. You state that by our staying in Iraq 'we will help provide new hope for millions of people throughout the Middles East, we will gain a new friend and ally in the war on terror, and we will make the American people safer.'

Nothing could be farther from the truth. In actuality, your continued occupation will create more and more enemies throughout the Middle East who will hate Americans and express that hatred through violence, but you, you are determined to not only let more American troops die but you're willing to increase the risks to our national security--the lives of American civilians on our soil, that's how I see it..and for what? Your political agenda...and that, Bush, is deplorable.