Unsettling Imagery Watch

In case you missed it, Bush announced a strategy for victory yesterday. This leads to questions about what the strategy was before yesterday... In case you think I'm being too glib, I note with interest that the National Post is running the following headline:

Bush maps out 'victory' strategy
War in Iraq: Artificial deadline for pullout a sign of weakness, President says

I wonder what they mean by putting the scare-quotes around "victory".

In any case, the only part I managed to catch before leaving for work yesterday was as Bush was being introduced to his military audience. The senior officer decided it would be a good idea to bring Bush out with the Navy's fight song. The song is apparently accompanied by a vigorous arm motion, something like a clenched fist.

All together, the image was extremely troubling - Bush coming out to a chanting military crowd, all giving a vigorous fascist-esque salute. The image is kind of lo-res, and it doesn't capture the hand motion I'm talking about:



Anyway, it was a bad start to my day.