Bill Sykes' Newsletter
from America.
(September 2003)
An ex-Brit gives his views-(without fear
or favor)---of the American Scene
President Bush’s Speech to the Nation.
Dateline Sunday 7th September 2003. Washington DC.
 President
Bush made what was to be a major speech during the prime
time TV hours this evening.
The political pundits heralded this speech as an opportunity
for the President to provide an upfront, honest appraisal
of the current war situation and address the unfortunate
lack of planning for exigencies occurring in post war
Iraq. President Bush is not known for being an intellectual,
forcible and charismatic speaker at the best of times,
and my interpretation gained from listening to the speech
was that this was one of the most inept, lack lustre and
wishy washy speeches from the Presidential podium that
I have ever heard during my thirty plus years of residency
in the United States,
In my estimation the words, which were supposed to uplift
and elate the audience went down like a lead balloon.
The speech contained the usual platitudes about America’s
"whatever it takes" war against terrorist organizations
worldwide, and included a facsimile of the words spoken
by Mr. Grace in the British sitcom "Are you being
served", "Everyone has done very well".
The speech was undistinguished by its lack of information
on such things as:  What
happened to the weapons of mass destruction that had been
hyped as a major reason for going to war with Iraq?How
long are American troops going to be tied down in Iraq
trying to install security and democracy in a region that
has never known the ideals of democracy?
What are his intentions with respect to giving the United
Nations more responsibility in post war Iraq, and finally,
how much is the bill for this war going to really cost
and how much will be the responsibility of the American
people? Very important facts that we the public wanted
to be informed about.
Mr. Bush did say that the chaotic dangerous aftermath
of the war was going to be too large a burden for the
American people to bear and said that requests are currently
being made to the Coalition of the willing for financial
and military contributions in order to police and rebuild
Iraq.
I came away from listening to his speech with a feeling
of dismay and disbelief that the much ballyhooed upfront
honest appraisal of the Iraqi post war situation had not
been forthcoming and that the only real piece of information
was a bombshell to some people in the manner of a request
from the President that Congress agree to allocate a further
$87B to fight the war against terrorism.
We welcome feedback about any of the contents
of these newsletters. Please send all correspondence to
bill_sykes@huddersfield1.co.uk
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