In a free country, you'll do as I say

As Steven Zunes points out, it's a little odd for George Bush to be saying something like this:

To give every Iraqi citizen a stake in the country's economy, Iraq will pass legislation to share oil revenues among all Iraqis. To show that it is committed to delivering a better life, the Iraqi government will spend $10 billion dollars of its own money on reconstruction and infrastructure projects that will create new jobs.

Zunes' response:

it inevitably raises questions about a government's independence when the president of the United States can confidently announce that its parliament will pass certain legislation and spend a specific amount of money. Furthermore, the Iraqi government's budget is just over $20 billion. It clearly does not have the capacity to increase reconstruction efforts in the magnitude the President suggests.

Zune's piece, "Bush's Iraq Speech Annotated," is well worth reading. I couldn't bear to read the speech without those annotations; every other sentence Bush utters is bullshit, and I can't listen to him on the radio anymore or read anything he's said or written without losing it. It's hell on my concentration. But Zune's careful, point by point examination of this speech makes it possible--actual honesty and constructive suggestions are put between Bush's distortions and funhouse worldview, giving me the hope that sane people really could help Iraq and America.