Here comes President Enik again · Jul 21, 05:18 PM by Enik

Earlier this week, I posted the XTC song, “Here Comes President Kill Again,” from the band's 1989 album, Oranges and Lemons.

I presented the song in conjunction with unflattering comments about President George W. Bush:

“When I first heard XTC's song, ‘Here Comes President Kill Again’ in high school, I lacked the life experience and historical scope to truly appreciate Andy Partridge's wickedly droll ‘salute’ to war-mongering leaders past and present. Thanks to the ‘liberation’ of Iraq at the hands of Lil' G, I now can!”

I then followed with this statistic:

“According to IraqBodyCount.org, 39123 Iraqi civilians have been ‘liberated’ since March 2003.”

A Timedoor visitor, Eric, offered this:

“I'm a big XTC fan—because their craft is truly exquisite. That does not, however, make them astute political scientists or philosophers. Perhaps if people had any sense of perspective, they would identify today's President Kill as Iran's President Ahmadinejad, who has called for the destruction of an entire nation, Israel. Or the former President of Iraq, Saddam, who killed about 10,000 of his own people every year, apart from the million of his soldiers who died in his wars. Bush is pretty small potatoes compared to those two, don't you think? Bush's unintentional collaterol killings count more than Saddam's murder and torture of his political enemies? Gimme a break. Then again, a sense of perspective is simply not fashionable these days.”

I take Eric's comments seriously. Upon reflection, I see that I should have clarified the connection I see between the song and the President. Below I present the lyrics (in bold) with my commentary. I don't know if I'm going to change Eric's mind, but at least I know I will have explained more clearly why the song can be connected to President Bush.

Also, I have to say, Andy Partridge may not be an “astute political scientist,” but, as a gifted musician and clever lyricist, he has crafted a song which is elastic enough to be applied to almost any controversial leader who has waged war with a shaky rationale. In the book XTC Song Stories, Partridge says the song is “about our powerlessness over governments' ability to kill.”

Lyrics to “Here Comes President Kill Again” by XTC

Here comes President Kill again,
Surrounded by all of his killing men.
Telling us who, why, where and when,
President Kill wants killing again.

The first line of the song calls to mind Bush's 2004 reelection.

Listening to this verse, I can't help but think of the Bush push to invade Iraq and the highly massaged evidence used to justify the invasion. Read a February 2004 CBS News article titled “The Man Who Knew: Ex-Powell Aide Says Saddam-Weapons Threat Was Overstated” here.

The ultimate inspiration for the invasion of Iraq came from a group called the Project for a New American Century. They lobbied Clinton to invade Iraq, but he didn't bite, preferring instead to simply bomb the country now and again as part of a “war of attrition.” The group's 1998 letter to Clinton was signed by numerous G-Dub playas, including Elliott Abrams, John Bolton, Richard Perle, Donald Rumsfeld, and Paul Wolfowitz.

If you read the mission statement on the home page of the Project's site, it is not difficult to see the statement as a rationale for American imperialism:

“The Project for the New American Century is a non-profit educational organization dedicated to a few fundamental propositions: that American leadership is good both for America and for the world; and that such leadership requires military strength, diplomatic energy and commitment to moral principle. The Project for the New American Century intends, through issue briefs, research papers, advocacy journalism, conferences, and seminars, to explain what American world leadership entails. It will also strive to rally support for a vigorous and principled policy of American international involvement and to stimulate useful public debate on foreign and defense policy and America's role in the world.”

As we know now, the invasion of Iraq was sold to the American people by claiming Saddam Hussein was involved with the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and that he was developing weapons of mass destruction that would pose a direct threat to the United States.

Hooray, ring out the bells,
King Conscience is dead.
Hooray, now back in your cells,
We've President Kill instead.

The “back in your cells” line resonates with the unlawful detention of “enemy combatants” at the US Naval Base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

Plus, who can forget Abu Ghraib? Veteran investigative reporter Seymour Hersh contextualizes the unforgettably horrific photos in this 2004 New Yorker piece.

Here comes President Kill again.
Broadcasting from his killing den.
Dressed in pounds and dollars and yen,
President Kill wants killing again.

The satirical Billionaires for Bush site slyly makes the point that moneyed men benefit greatly from having G-Dub in office.

Some of those moneyed men run Halliburton. According to a March 2003 Alternet article, Dick Cheney “served as chief executive of Halliburton until he stepped down to become George W. Bush's running mate in the 2000 presidential race. Today he still draws compensation of up to a million dollars a year from the company, although his spokesperson denies that the White House helped the company win the contract.” The article, titled, “Halliburton Makes a Killing on Iraq War,” can be read here.

Hooray, hang out the flags,
Queen Caring is dead.
Hooray, we'll stack body bags,
For President Kill instead.

Yes, body bags will be stacked and coffins loaded into planes but G-Dub, his hawks and the mainstream media don't want you to see them. Take a trip down the Memory Hole to see those who have perished in Iraq.

Ain't democracy wonderful?
Them Russians can't win!
Ain't democracy wonderful?
Lets us vote someone like that in.

The reference to Russia grounds the song in the Cold War Eighties. The subsequent lines bring to mind the voting irregularities in Florida in 2000 and Ohio in 2004. Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s stirred the pot on Ohio with a lighting rod piece for Rolling Stone titled “Was the 2004 Election Stolen?”

Here comes President Kill again,
From pure White House to Number 10.
Taking lives with a smoking pen,
President Kill wants killing again.

Bush's “smoking pen” was flourished behind closed doors. According to a 2003 Washington Post article titled, “U.S. Decision On Iraq Has Puzzling Past: Opponents of War Wonder When, How Policy Was Set,” Bush, in early 2002, “secretly signed an intelligence order, expanding on a previous presidential finding, that directed the CIA to undertake a comprehensive, covert program to topple Hussein, including authority to use lethal force to capture the Iraqi president.” Read the article here.

Hooray, everything's great,
Now President Kill is dead.
Hooray, I'll bet you can't wait,
To vote for President Kill instead…

When listening to “Here Comes President Kill Again,” I don't think it is a stretch to ruminate on a man who is arguably the most hawkish President in our nation's history. As Commander-in-Chief, Bush is responsible for the deaths of over 2500 U.S. soldiers and over 39,000 Iraqi civilians.

Eric urged “a sense of perspective,” comparing Bush to Saddam Hussein and Iran's President Ahmadinejad. I don't doubt that Eric, or I, or anyone, could apply the “President Kill” lyrics to them as well.

Eric directly compares Bush and the Iraqi civilian body count to Iraq's former President. Saddam Hussein, Eric writes, “killed about 10,000 of his own people every year, apart from the million of his soldiers who died in his wars. Bush is pretty small potatoes compared to those two, don't you think?” When I hear statements like this, as a trained Holocaust educator, I cringe a bit. One of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's teaching guidelines is to avoid comparisons of pain:

“A study of the Holocaust should always highlight the different policies the Nazi regime carried out against various groups of people; however, these distinctions should not be presented as a basis for comparison of suffering between them. In addition, one cannot presume that the horror created by the Nazis was any greater than that experienced by victims of other genocides; the true horror of the Holocaust lies not in numbers, but in policies of hatred and genocide carried out in a widespread, bureaucratic fashion.”

One cannot presume that the horror created by Saddam Hussein during his regime is any greater than the horror Iraqi citizens have been experiencing since 2003.

Bonus Song

XTC's other principal singer/lyricist Colin Moulding is also not a big fan of war. “War Dance” is a song from 1992's Nonsuch, the last album before the band's seven-year lost weekend. It was originally inspired by the Falkland Islands situation in the early Eighties. It was not committed to tape until Desert Storm fever moved Moulding to dig it up for the Nonsuch sessions.