THE ROBERT W. WHITAKER ARCHIVE

IF THEY'LL TURN ON ME, THEY'LL TURN ON YOU | 2003-03-15

Turkey suddenly decided not to let American troops use its territory to attack Iraq.

Turkey is not loyal to the United States because the United States was not loyal to them. Before Desert Storm in 1991, Turkey threw itself behind the United States against Iraq. President Bush let them take on enormous cost and gave them nothing at all in return.

The same President Bush Senior urged the Kurds to rise up against Saddam with a promise of support. They rose and Bush let Saddam kill them by the thousands.

Ross Perot gave numerous examples of the Bush White House calling on him for help and then dropping him the second they got what they wanted. He said, "They rode me hard and put me up wet."

In 1988, Ronald Reagan got Bush elected president. Conservatives, whose first loyalty is always to stupidity, threw themselves into Bush's campaign.

The minute Bush took over the presidency he cleared out every single Reagan appointee. Early in 1989, one operative bragged openly that he had been the first to get rid of all the Reagan people in his area.

Does anybody notice a pattern?

Well, not one person has ever mentioned a pattern in President Bush, Senior's behavior. No one mentions McCain's definition of loyalty.

Anybody notice a pattern here?