The Crawford Bunker

The Crawford Bunker
by Alan Bisbort

August 15, 2005 -- HARTFORD (apj.us) -- Did he really say that?

Did he really do that?

These are questions that many Americans have been asking daily since Bush was appointed president in Jan. 2001 by the U.S. Supreme Court. At first, it was the malapropisms, the dyslexic, nearly incoherent mangling of our shared language. Then it was the policy, the day-in, day-out ruination of all that we hold dear, all the tenets of an open democracy under which this nation has, for the most part, operated for two centuries.

Like abuse victims, Americans became inured to the viciousness and bullying, as did the Democratic Party, backing away, apologizing, blaming themselves for the pain and suffering, even asking for more when the pain from the previous whipping had subsided. Thus, it takes a really special whipping, a really appalling act of brazenness and viciousness, to break through this cycle and wake up the body politic.

By reducing the equation to a one-on-one, person-to-person level, Cindy Sheehan, who lost her son Casey in the illegal war in Iraq last year, may have helped provide that special whipping we need.

There she sits, in the Texas heat outside Bush's little cowboy ranch, day after day, as the fat cat Republicans in their air-conditioned pimpmobiles, Hummers and limos drive back and forth along the route to Bush's sagebrush bunker, which is always open to them but never to the nearly 2,000 grieving mothers of the soldiers who've died in Iraq. They slow down to get a peak, and undoubtedly crack jokes at Sheehan's expense, laughing among themselves inside their soundproof, bulletproof, mirrored metal bubbles, and then speed on to their fund-raising or oil-policy appointment with Bubble Boy.

It was callous enough that Bush sped past Sheehan on the way to a fund-raising event the other night, leaving her to ask the obvious, if rhetorical, question, "Why do you make time for donors and not for me?"

It was inexcusable, then, when Bush told reporters the next day that he would not meet with Cindy Sheehan because "It's important for me to go on with my life." This little man, who is incapable of even faking humility, compassion, or self-doubt, who has pathologically dodged responsibility for his actions all of his life, then said, "I think the people want the president to be in a position to make good, crisp decisions and to stay healthy, and part of my being [healthy?] is to be outside exercising."

This adolescent sentiment -- which amounted to telling the grieving mother to "Git over it, bitch, and git yore ass back to Californy" -- was said just prior to his going on another manic, Pee Wee Herman-like bike ride on his ranch rather than take five minutes to go down the road to speak with Sheehan. On the same day, he had scheduled other more important things, as well, such as viewing a Little League Baseball playoff game, having lunch with Condi Rice, a nap, "some fishing and some reading."

I think it is now safe to say that no American president has ever been as small a human being as George W. Bush. Historians can, and will, chew over his nearly seamless series of failures and poor decisions and right-wing pandering for many years. But psychologists and humanists will simply nod their heads in dismay and wonder how this great nation could have been, for eight years, under the thumb of such a lost soul, such a lout. What must life be like under his skin? What happened to this man's conscience, his heart, his mind? It must be horrible to be so distant from real emotion and feelings, to be so cluelessly mean-spirited.

What, then, must life be like on that protected, high-security Crawford ranch? What do his aides and daily associates really feel about this most insulated of human beings? Surely, they have to go back at the end of every day to live in the real world. Surely they have neighbors and interests and pursuits that aren't as limited as those of their boss. Surely they have moments of, uh, doubt or humility or even humanity.

Because we are never told the truth about anything involving George W. Bush, we can only use our imaginations and our gut feelings. Thus, it was that I was visited by what Edmund Wilson has called "the shock of recognition" last night while watching "Downfall," the brilliant, painfully true-to-life depiction of the last days of Adolf Hitler in his Berlin bunker. Watching this, then reading about the same events in Gitta Sereny's brilliant book Albert Speer: His Battle with the Truth, I was struck by how familiar it sounded. While the Americans and the Russians converged on the devastated German capital, Hitler continued to give orders to his generals, impossible orders to follow given the lack of equipment and manpower in the army's decimated ranks.

Hitler's associates, meanwhile, were holed up in the Chancellory -- beneath which, 50-feet down, sat Der Fuhrer's Bunker -- drinking champagne, gorging themselves on food, listening to music and dancing. This loyal coterie was so psychotically attached to this little man below them in his Bunker, that they were, literally, fiddling while Berlin burned. It was Jonestown without the Kool-Aid.

When Hitler made the decision to commit suicide, he called for his secretary Traudl Junge and asked her to take down his "Political Testament." This man, who had destroyed Europe and nearly the world in his megalomaniacal drive to exterminate his perceived enemies, did not evince even a scintilla of regret, remorse or humility. Instead, his "Political Testament" consisted of ten pages of ranting. Junge, in her postwar recollections, said, "You know, here we were, all of us doomed, I thought -- the whole country doomed -- and here, in what he was dictating to me there was not one word of compassion or regret, only awful, awful anger. I remember thinking, ‘My God, he hasn't learned anything. It's all just the same.'"

To the very end, Hitler embraced his narcissistic pathology, one that pinned blame on others. He did not even offer one word of sorrow or apology to the people of Germany. He did not even offer fond farewells to those who surrounded him in the bunker and who would, following his death, either commit suicide or be captured by Russians and spend years in Soviet gulags. Hitler even killed his favorite dog and her puppies. IT WAS ALL ABOUT HIM.

Jesus Christ, that sounds familiar. Way too familiar.

Alan Bisbort is a columnist for the Hartford Advocate. His book, The Way to Hell: The Life and Death of Caryl Chessman will be published in Fall 2006 by Carroll & Graf.
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UPDATES ON CINDY SHEEHAN VISIT TO CRAWFORD
Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2005
(Reverse Time Order — More Recent Entries Toward Top)

Camp Casey coordinator Ann Wright has issued an appeal. The van that has been used recently to accomodate media interviews is being called out of service and there is now an immediate need for a replacement. Anyone interested in loaning or providing such a van for use by Sheehan should call Wright at 808-741-1141. She explained that this need is somewhat urgent.

2:45 p.m.
Deborah Mathews reporting for The Iconoclast

The Iconoclast staff has been attempting to draw up a rough map showing how to reach the new Camp Casey. It can be accessed by clicking here.

Members of the Texas Coalition for an Independent Judiciary met at the Crawford Post Office Wednesday morning to send empty boxes to the White House. Coalition members called on President Bush to fill the boxes with documents from Supreme Court nominee John Roberts' record as a deputy solicitor general in the first Bush administration. For the story, click here.

Phone Interview with Ann Wright of Camp Casey:

“WE NEED LOTS AND LOTS OF TRAFFIC CONES AND ROPE!!”

Camp supporters are currently discussing options for the big move to the one acre patch of land. “We’re excited about moving. I think this is the closest protest site that has been to the White House. We will be right next to a Secret Service checkpoint,” said Wright.

Supporters are encouraged to use the shuttle out to Camp Casey, as parking remains a problem.

Earlier reports were of a donation of 212 acres across from the new campsite to be used for parking. That offer has changed and campers will be restricted to the one acre; however, a very large tent will be erected to provide the shade that this new site doesn’t offer. Also, Wright explains, “We are bringing in trailers to help with interviews and so forth. There will be bathroom facilities and cooking facilities as well.”

This morning, we were told that the crosses (Arlington Crawford the campers have come to call it) will in fact be moved to the new site. Wright said, “We have evaluated the best area where the most impact will be made.”

Wright again asks, “PLEASE, WE NEED CONES AND ROPE!”

9:35 a.m. — Phone Press Conference with Fred Mattlage
Deborah Mathews reporting for The Iconoclast

Local landowner Fred Mattlage, a distant relative of Larry Mattlage, held a telephone press conference this morning at 8:30 to explain his reasons for donating land to Cindy Sheehan and Camp Casey.

“I wanted to provide this property as a place where they could peacefully assemble,” he said. “This was an act of compassion to a mother whose lost her son.”

Mattlage is a 52-year-old self-employed small business owner who resides in Waco. He is a distant relative of Larry Mattlage, the man who fired the shotgun into the air on Sunday.

The property he is offering is co-owned by his brothers Karl and Mark and sister, Patricia. Brother Mark actually owns the one acre tract where the new camp site will be. This one acre is at the corner of Prairie Chapel Road and Camen Church Road. Directly across from the one acre, the Mattlages own a 212-acre tract, which they will make available for parking purposes.

The 212-acre tract is to be opened today at 10 a.m. by Mattlage. He is asking that Camp Casey supporters have a person at the gate of the property at all times due to the fact that there are cattle on the site. Gates will have to be kept shut.

Mattlage went on to say, “These people did not approach me at any time. I went to the Peace House in Crawford to offer the land, but it is not my desire to put them in closer proximity to the President. I only want to alleviate some of the problems with the residents.”

Mattlage also said, “The gun shots (by Larry Mattlage) did not play into my decision. This has nothing to do with family.”

When asked about any parallels to his own time in the military service — 1972-1974 with the 82nd Airborn Division of the U.S. Army — Mattlage responded with, “There really is no comparison, but our country should have a good reason to committ our boys to combat. Maybe we didn’t learn a valuable enough lesson from Vietnam.”

Mattlage said that he is not really a supporter (of Sheehan or the President) either way. “I don’t really agree with the policy of being in the war.”

Mattlage has had no contact with the White House.

A camp supporter said, “It is unlikely that we will move today. We are using this time to figure out how to best to begin the move. We need to get some shade up first. The plan is to begin moving by the end of tomorrow or early on Friday, before our inter-faith meeting.”

Editor's Note: Permission is granted to reprint the information and photographs appearing in this feature about Cindy Sheehan's visit to Crawford and activities at The Peace House. Attribution would be appreciated. Recordings, if any, may also be reproduced, with credit. — W. Leon Smith, publisher, The Lone Star Iconoclast

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