The Company You Keep

Hageebush

At this point, it is premature to point fingers or assign culpability. Of course, it would also be ludicrous to assume any connection to Bush just for sitting next to someone at a parade. Given the unfolding of the alleged Haditha massacre story, however, this image is a still a little unsettling.

Here is U.S. General Michael Hagee, the Marine Corps Commandant (right of Bush) yukking it up with the Commandeer-in-Chief in Washington on May 5th. About two weeks later, in a meeting with Jack Murtha, Hagee told the Congressman that he and his staff knew about the Haditha incident — which took place last November 19th — within days after it happened. (Murtha has since concluded there was a cover up which extends up the chain of command.)

With the Haditha story almost two weeks old now, The BAG simply wonders if Bush has had any further contact with Hagee on the matter, or feels any regret about sharing an outing with him given what the Commandant had under his hat.

(image: Yuri Gripas/Reuters. May 5, 2006. Washington. Via YahooNews)

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Getting The Kerry Treatment

Losing Face

Aunt Deb

It seems to me that within the last several weeks (giving commencement speeches at military academies, using Arlington Cemetery as a backdrop for a maudlin speech at least one pundit likened to the Gettysburg Address, etc), this administration has been over-using the military connection in the hopes of tamping down criticism. For the most part, the press has complied. Witness the extremely confused editorials in the big papers regarding withdrawal from Iraq.
The crux for many seems to be something called “support” of the troops. We must never criticize the troops, even when more and more evidence shows that there are many things they are doing that are not only questionable but also criminal. Bush, shown here sitting between two high-ranking military men, perhaps doesn’t clearly understand the difference between a ‘troop’ and the men he is sitting with, but you can bet the officers do. They are using him as much as he is using them.
This picture captures the collusion between military powerstructure and the administration. They need each other, but perhaps the man in the middle is the one most in need of propping up.
ROY

I’ve worked as a designer and art director since the 80’s so naturally I enjoy your site. Looking at it today I was struck by the futility of analysing the media. It is so bent and lopsided, such a propaganda tool for the stooges, I’ve lost interest in looking at the pictures posted here. Its all so depressing. They’ve won, whoever they are. I don’t enjoy the hypocrisy or irony anymore. I’m burned out on the crap journalism.
Marysz

The reluctance to criticize the troops on the ground in Iraq Aunt Deb writes about is a legacy from the Vietnam war. The anti-war movement mercilessly criticized American ground troops and it had the effect of letting the higher-ups like MacNamara and Westmoreland off the hook. No one wants to see that happen a second time around. Supposedly, Bush only learned of the massacre after the press got wind of it. He’s still Bubble Boy. I don’t think he has any thoughts one way or another about being seen with Hagee. He’s all for accountability, but only when it applies to Democrats.
In the photo above, Bush (as usual) looks like a little kid at a birthday party. He’s just happy to be having fun and be the center of attention. He’s oblivious whatever the significance is of the actual event. But look at Laura off on the right. A pole bisects the photograph by gender. Bush is in a centralized hyper-masculine space and Laura is off in a feminized, marginal one. Yesterday, BAG showed pictures of Nancy Pelosi off to the side and here we see Laura Bush in the same spot. Laura looks pale (no blush) and appears older and more worn than she usually looks. A health problem? Stress? Or just a poor choice of makeup?
weisseharre

bluedressladies
ummabdulla

What are they looking at anyway? Bush finds something very amusing, the two Marines at his sides seem to be going along (the one on the left a little less than General Hagee), and Laura is smiling slightly. The other people in the background are a little blurry, but from what we can see of their eyes and mouths, they look pretty solemn.
http://www.jaxxattaxx.com/ black dog barking

What is happening on stage (the ostensible center of attention) that draws smiles from the Decider, the General, and Mrs Bush (high beams from the men) yet none of the seven faces around them registers the slightest mirth? Are they instinctively putting on for the camera? (Notice the strobe-induced shadow from the other officer’s cap bill.) Or is the Decider cracking wise, cutting up, unable to restrain his rapier wit? Obviously the Very Important People have a different responses than regular folk.
Robin Farley

Didn’t we all know about the Haditha massacre last November? It seems like the coverup includes the media which just stopped reporting about it until a few weeks ago.
21 November 2005
New York Times
Bomb Kills 15 Iraqis, 1 Marine
The Marine Corps said that 15 Iraqi civilians and a marine were killed when a roadside bomb exploded in the town of Haditha, 140 miles northwest of Baghdad. At least 11 other Iraqis were killed or found dead in various incidents, and military officials reported the deaths of two more Americans and a British soldier. A15
http://thirdeyepushpin.blogspot.com thirdeyepushpin

Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel, W is in his last safe haven. And the military supposed to serve and protect us is now just protecting Bush. These three have all happily agreed to the arrangement, thick as thieves, yes sirree; W playing it safe with the boys in uniform appears to be even more important than marriage. It is sad when boys don’t become men, it is tragic when they are given the power and responsibility of men before they are mature enough to handle it. Their smiles remind me of boys in early pubescence being allowed to drive a tractor or take on a man’s work for the first time. The company W keeps is with men whose emotional maturity is disconnected from their feminine side. They run a ragged circle jerk of cronyism and inside jokes; turning their insecurity into a quest for greater power to compensate their inability to respond and communicate with anything beyond their sphere of underdeveloped binary values.
Conservatism is a magnet for those who do not wish to grow beyond their limitations. Psychologically, Fascism is the result of infantile regression. Here you see W in his womb, his bubble of illusory manhood maintained by the stasis of uniform and status.
Sometimes I think leadership in its ideal role must be the fulcrum of transcending thought of being able to perceive complex situations and act accordingly. Its shadow is the opposite, to reduce complexity in to knee herk reactions of good and evil. Ideal leadership is at the forefront of evolving human consciousness. Its shadow opposite is the lowest common denominator on the chain of consciousness, unable to grasp complexity and succumbing to the worst traits of the ego. Small wonder we have a shadow government behind the smiles of men who are still boys.
http://profile.typekey.com/bgrothus/ bg

He’s “troubled” by Haditha.
But not with a capital “T.”
I’m with those who observe in this snap that the chimp-in-chief has just said something “funny” and the asiders are laughing at someone, with him.
Juvenile. The whole thing. And sickening.
itwasntme

Can’t hardly stand to look at the man anymore. Laura makes me cringe (and hide from the ruler she’s hiding behind her back in case she decides my hands need to be whacked.) My urge to run away from people like these is overwhelming. I’m not kidding.
Better renew the Xanax prescription.
http://ruinsofempire.blogspot.com/ Rafael

I notice how Bush is literaly flanked by Marines, as if he needs the protection, even from his wife. She appears distant/excluded, while the men seem to be bunched up (this image is reinforced by the pole, that is in the foreground but really frames the men to the exclusion of all else).
weisseharre

singthisong: “Doodah”
hauksdottir

Laura might as well be a corpse: frozen into perkiness by whatever anti-depressant she is taking, but waxen-faced nonetheless. I wouldn’t read too much into whether she is smiling or not.
However, it does look like Bush and Hagee are exchanging a private joke, perhaps of some intimacy or crudity, since nobody else is smiling. If Hagee knew of the coverup, he will most assuredly need Bush more than Bush needs him, so establishing rapport is essential. With the tilted heads and leaning posture, you can see bonds being woven here.
I can hardly wait until Bush designs his Commander-in-Chief uniform… with oodles of gold braid.