Bush misundertood the part about "making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country." He thought it referred to his fellow Americans.

Ok. If you know me, or even if you read this blog more than oh, say, a day, you know what I think of George W. Bush. I think he's an immature, inhumane chicken-hawk. That said, even I have trouble believing this one (as relayed by Tom Engelhardt) ...

Let me briefly set the scene, as [former commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, Lieutenant General Ricardo] Sanchez tells it on pages 349-350 of [his memoir] Wiser in Battle. It's April 6, 2004. L. Paul Bremer III, head of the occupation's Coalition Provisional Authority, as well as the President's colonial viceroy in Baghdad, and Gen. Sanchez were in Iraq in video teleconference with the President, Secretary of State Colin Powell, and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. (Assumedly, the event was recorded …

According to Sanchez, Powell was talking tough that day: "We've got to smash somebody's ass quickly," the general reports him saying. "There has to be a total victory somewhere. We must have a brute demonstration of power."

Quick aside: Ah, Colin Powell. I remember him when he still had credibility. Heck, there was even a time--I think it lasted one afternoon--when I could have voted for him if he'd run for president in the '90s.

But now--well, just look at him, pretending like he had a spine. That's so cute.

Not long after that, the President "launched" what an evidently bewildered Sanchez politely describes as "a kind of confused pep talk regarding both Fallujah and our upcoming southern campaign [against the Mahdi Army]." Here then is that "pep talk." While you read it, try to imagine anything like it coming out of the mouth of any other American president, or anything not like it coming out of the mouth of any evil enemy leader in the films of the President's -- and my -- childhood:

"'Kick ass!' [Bush] said, echoing Colin Powell's tough talk. 'If somebody tries to stop the march to democracy, we will seek them out and kill them! We must be tougher than hell! This Vietnam stuff, this is not even close. It is a mind-set. We can't send that message. It's an excuse to prepare us for withdrawal.

"There is a series of moments and this is one of them. Our will is being tested, but we are resolute. We have a better way. Stay strong! Stay the course! Kill them! Be confident! Prevail! We are going to wipe them out! We are not blinking!'"

…Evidently…the President was intent on imitating George C. Scott playing General George Patton -- or perhaps even inadvertently channeling one of the evil villains of his onscreen childhood.

Even I didn't think he was that deranged...