The president who can't be mistaken

By Ellen Goodman,

Globe Columnist | October 13, 2004

NOW THAT her 15 minutes of fame are over, may I tip my hat to Linda Grabel? It isn't easy to give the president of the United States a pop quiz. But at the second debate, the 63-year-old legal secretary asked: "Please give three instances in which you came to realize you had made a wrong decision and what you did to correct it."

By now it's well known that the president couldn't come up with a single mistake except, shucks, maybe an appointment or two. The question, as he restated it, was, "Did you make a mistake going into Iraq?" And his answer was: "Absolutely not."

Was anyone really surprised? George W. Bush is now officially The Man Who Wouldn't Ask Directions. This candidate doesn't do windows or introspection. He's running on an alchemy platform as the politician who transforms inflexibility into strength.

Inflexible...? Indeed, but it goes far beyond that . It is a philosophical and epistemological rigidity that makes the hardest steel look positively mushy. But the harder the steel, the more brittle it is...The more easily it breaks. Lacking the flexibility to bend and then spring back, it snaps at the point of stress. And so it will be with Bush...His mental rigidity will lead him to break at the point of greatest stress. Can we really afford that in our president?

Unease Shadows Bush's Optimism

Noting the administration's request to divert $3.4 billion in Iraq reconstruction money to a series of emergency measures, including efforts to improve security, conservative Rep. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) said: "Now, that does not add up, in my opinion, to a pretty picture, to a picture that shows that we're winning. But it does add up to this: an acknowledgment that we are in deep trouble."

The committee's moderate Republican chairman, Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, expressed exasperation at the administration's rosy prewar assessments that as soon as Hussein was deposed, a euphoric Iraqi population would embrace democracy.

"The nonsense of that is [now] apparent," he said. "The lack of planning is apparent."

And so, the Republicans begin to feed on their own...They begin to question the wisdom of the man they recently nominated in New York, shamelessly politicizing 9/11 and the "war on terror". The light of truth begins to intrude upon their unquestioned allegiance to Dubbyuh and his administration. And all that needs to be said to them is, "Told ya so..."

U.S. Intelligence Paints a Darker Picture Than Dubbyuh Would Have Us Believe

By DOUGLAS JEHL

WASHINGTON, Sept. 15 - A classified National Intelligence Estimate prepared for President Bush in late July spells out a dark assessment of prospects for Iraq, government officials said Wednesday.

The estimate outlines three possibilities for Iraq through the end of 2005, with the worst case being developments that could lead to civil war, the officials said. The most favorable outcome described is an Iraq whose stability would remain tenuous in political, economic and security terms.

The NIE, pooh-poohed by Mark McClellan as being "pessimistic" gives lie to the Administration's rosy picture of Iraq and its future. The best case scenario is one of a future little different from the present in Iraq. THe Worst case is outright civil war between the Sunnis, Sh'ias and Kurds. It should be pointed out that the word "pessimist" was created by optimists to describe realists.

Tom DeLay and Denny Hasturt: Special Interest Whores

Tom DeLay and Denny Hasturt wouldn't let an extension of the assault weapons ban come to the floor for debate, let alone a vote. The NRA drew them aside and whispered sweet nothings in their ears, and being the eager whores that they are, they promptly rolled over and spread their legs squealing, "Do me! And do me, NOW!"

With this act of blatant political prositution, Tom DeLay and Denny Hasturt proved, unequivocally, that America is no longer a nation of the people, by the people and for the people. America is now a nation wholly at the mercy of corporate interests, a situation exacerbated by this Administration and its Republican cronies in Congress.

Never mind that some 65% of the American people WANT the assault weapons ban to remain in effect. Never Mind that law enforcement agencies all accross the country support extending the assault weapons ban. Never mind that some 57% of GUN OWNERS support the assault weapons ban. Never mind that a MAJORITY of Americans, gun owners and non-gun owners alike support tightening the ban The NRA, with its siren song of more campaign contributions, renders all of that moot. A parliament of whores...Indeed!

What he really said...Part 1

I believe every child can learn, and every school must teach so we passed the most important federal education reform in history. Because we acted, children are making sustained progress in reading and math, America's schools are getting better, and nothing will hold us back.

Unfortunately he forgot to mention that his “No Child Left Behind initiative was underfunded to the tune of $9.4 billion, or that 38 educational programs would be cut from the budget in 2004.

I believe we have a moral responsibility to honor America's seniors so I brought Republicans and Democrats together to strengthen Medicare. Now seniors are getting immediate help buying medicine. Soon every senior will be able to get prescription drug coverage, and nothing will hold us back.

Yet Medicare Chief Actuary, Richard Foster was told to keep quiet about the actual costs of the recently passed Medicare legislation. Nor, was the fact that the government is barred from negotiating for lower drug prices under this scheme mentioned. Also not mentioned was the fact that some 60% of the new “drug benefit” actually goes to the pharmaceutical companies.

I believe in the energy and innovative spirit of America's workers, entrepreneurs, farmers, and ranchers so we unleashed that energy with the largest tax relief in a generation. Because we acted, our economy is growing again, and creating jobs, and nothing will hold us back.

Unfortunately, the estimates for the federal deficit now stand a some $5.2 trillion over the next ten years. Also the tax cuts Dubbyuh ramrodded through Congress shifted more of the tax burden to the middle-class. Oh…and, by the way…the Administration’s budget estimates don’t even include the costs of operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. Dubbyuh left Texas’ economy a smoking crater in the earth. We won’t know the damage he’s done to the US economy for a while as the mushroom cloud is still rising.

I believe the most solemn duty of the American president is to protect the American people. If America shows uncertainty and weakness in this decade, the world will drift toward tragedy. This will not happen on my watch.

This is the administration that cut requested FBI counter-terrorism funding by 2/3 after 9-11.Bush also opposed creation of the largely ineffectual Department of Homeland Security and the 9-11 Commission. Also “on His watch”, a bill to strengthen security at US nuclear and petrochemical sites was scuttled by the Republican controlled House and Senate. And our seaports remain largely unsecured.

New dirt thrown in squabble over candidates' war records

By Andrew Gumbel in Los Angeles

The controversy over John Kerry's Vietnam War record looked set yesterday to escalate into a duel between the two competing presidential campaigns, after new, unflattering details emerged about George Bush's much questioned National Guard service in Texas and Alabama in 1971-72.

The widow of one of the Bush family's closest confidants of the period alleged that the reason the young Mr Bush was transferred to Alabama was that his drunken, boorish behaviour was becoming a political liability for his father - who was serving as US ambassador to the United Nations - and the family was keen to get him out of Texas.

Linda Allison said she never once saw him in uniform in Alabama, despite the Bush family's protestations to the contrary. Instead, he was attached to the Republican Senate campaign that her husband Jimmy was running. Corroborating earlier first-hand accounts, she said George W would sleep in late after all-night benders, arrive at the office around noon and leave early.

On election night, when it became clear that the campaign to unseat the incumbent Democratic senator, John Sparkman failed, Ms Allison said she encountered Mr Bush urinating on a car in the campaign parking lot. She later heard that he had yelled obscenities at police officers.

Ms Allison's account, which she gave to the online magazine Salon.com, was one of a number of indications of a backlash against the President after weeks of attacks on Senator Kerry's Vietnam War record by a group of ardent pro-Bush Republicans calling themselves Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.

Like the proverbial turd in a punchbowl, the sordid truth of Dubbyuh's "war years" floats to the surface. Yessiree folks, this is the man who want to steer the ship of state. The only problem is he's about to gut the ship on the reefs of the real world rather than sail on the seas of his ETOH impaired vision of the world. Twenty plus years of alcohol abuse leaves a permanent mark on one's cognitive abilities, as Dubbyuh so readily demonstrates. It's time to throw the cap'n overboard and get a steady hand at the helm.

Zell slips off the deep end...

Yeah buddy! Ol' Zell, he's a veritable paragon of reason and sanity. F'r instance, how's about where he went off on Chris Matthews who chided him for the "defending America with spitballs" comment. That's when Miller slid off the deep end and said that he wished he "could get a little closer up into your face" and that he lived in a time "where you could challenge a person to a duel".

Yep ol' Zell, he's a great DINO (Democrat In Name Only)...Soon he and his kind will be extinct, or at least live out their lives as curiosities kept in carefully controlled reserves with other breeds of conservative. There they will be protected from the harsh relities of the world around them, and they will always have their rose colored glasses.

Does Dick CHENEY no he's not really on the ticket?

HYPOCRITES!!!!!!!!!!!

And they said they wouldn't use the memory of 9/11 for political ends...Did anyone really believe that fatuous lie? To say that the Riechspartei...er...Republican National Convention is manipulative is like saying Marcel Marceau was a little quiet.

Yes indeed folks the keynote for Tuesday night was "Never forget 9/11...", As if we could. But we were presented with a long string of speakers who reminded us of 9/11 with every breath.

And the evening was kicked off by John McCain (sellout) and Rudy Giulianni (adulterous dog), who are both also known for their courage and leadership...Two qualities Dubbyuh would like to have associated with him.

All in all this outpouring of beteiligt-geist has been most nauseating, and one can only hope these hypocritical fuckers are beaten like a gong come November and whipped naked and howling into the wilderness

"Meet the New Boss..."

Bush Pretends He Never Gave Secret Prison Order

Two weeks ago, President Bush appeared on Arab television claiming that he wanted to stop the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison and implying that he had nothing to do with the policies that led to them. During his appearance Bush said, "We want to make sure that if there is a systemic problem -- in other words, if there's a problem system-wide -- that we stop the practices"1. However, a new report appears to show that the President and top Administration officials may have authorized procedures that led to the abuses in the first place.

A new investigation by Newsweek "shows that President Bush, along with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Attorney General John Ashcroft signed off on a secret system of detention and interrogation that opened the door to such methods" of abuse and torture as documented at Abu Ghraib2. The secret orders were designed "to sidestep the historical safeguards of the Geneva Conventions, which protect the rights of detainees and prisoners of war. In doing so, they overrode the objections of Secretary of State Colin Powell and America's top military lawyers."

The President has repeatedly said he wants to "usher in an era of personal responsibility"3. Yet, despite these revelations, the White House has yet to admit any culpability. When asked whether a crucial Presidential legal memo4 attempting to skirt the Geneva Conventions5 helped to create the atmosphere that led to the prison abuses, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said, "Absolutely not"6.

Sources:

1. President Bush Meets with Al Arabiya Television on Wednesday, 05/05/2004.

2. "The Roots of Torture", Newsweek, 05/24/2004.

3. President Bush Discusses Progress in Education in St. Louis, 01/05/2004.

4. "Memos Reveal War Crimes Warnings", Newsweek, 05/19/2004.

5. "Report: White House Memo Backed Abuse", San Francisco Chronicle, 05/17/2004.

6. Press Gaggle by Scott McClellan, 05/17/2004.

(emphasis mine)

"Personal responsibility" is a concept on the dim and distant horizon of Dubbyuh's consciousness, trotted out only when it seems politically expedient. Also, that Antonio Gonzalez expressed concerns about these actions violating provisions od the Geneva Convention and the War Crimes Act is telling. But since he also stated that the Geneva Convention was "quaint" and "obsolete", those reservations can be taken with a grain of salt. More telling is that the Dubbyuh and his band o' thugs didn't let such concerns stand in their way. It is but the latest example of the Administration's complete and utter disregard for international law, except where it directly benefits US interests.

Having utterly abandoned the moral high ground and descended to the level of such human rights luminaries and Stalin and Pohl Poht, this administration has abdicated its stated goal of bringing democracy to Iraq and the Middle East. "...Meet the new boss, same as the old boss..."

Pentagon distorted Iraqi casualty issue, says new report

Press Release, Project on Defense Alternatives

20 February 2004

18 February 2004 -- Weapons of mass destruction is not the only Iraq war-related subject clouded by misinformation. According to a new study, the Pentagon conducted "perception management" campaigns during the Afghan and Iraq wars that also obstructed the public's awareness of civilian casualties.

These activities included Pentagon efforts to "spin" casualty stories in ways that minimized their significance or cast unreasonable doubt on their reliability. Efforts also may have included the placement of misleading news stories. Such activities are "antithetical to well-informed public debate and to sensible policy-making," according to the report's author, Carl Conetta.

The report, Disappearing the Dead: Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Idea of a "New Warfare", was released Wednesday by the Project on Defense Alternatives at the Commonwealth Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Besides examining several case studies, the report reviews the "news frames" promoted by defense officials to shape the public debate over casualties.

Among the suspect stories promoted by US officials were reports that the Hussein regime was stockpiling cadavers before the war in order to stage phony casualty incidents and blame them on the coalition. Another story asserted that the Iraqis were procuring uniforms like those of US troops so that they might commit atrocities that would be attributed to the United States. As in the case of Iraq's reputed possession of prohibited weapons, neither story was subsequently verified.

Hmmm...Sounds like one more unsettling parallel to Vietnam, which was another politically driven war.

Bush Chooses the F.D.A.'s Chief to Run Medicare and Medicaid

By ROBERT PEAR

WASHINGTON, Feb. 20 — President Bush announced on Friday that he would nominate Dr. Mark B. McClellan, the food and drug commissioner, to run Medicare and Medicaid, the health insurance programs for more than 70 million Americans. The Republic is dead, long live coporate America!

Dr. McClellan faces a huge logistical and political challenge: to provide prescription drug coverage to the elderly while fending off Democratic attacks on the new Medicare law, which Mr. Bush sees as his greatest achievement in domestic policy.

If confirmed by the Senate, Dr. McClellan will become administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which spends more than $480 billion a year and regulates nearly every sector of the nation's health care system.

While firmly committed to the president's free-market policies, Dr. McClellan has shown a knack for working with members of both parties in a pragmatic way that blends science, economics and politics.

Dr. McClellan, a physician and economist, has received rave reviews from drug companies for his work as chief of the Food and Drug Administration, a post he assumed in November 2002. He served earlier at the White House, as health policy coordinator and a member of Mr. Bush's Council of Economic Advisers. In the Clinton administration, he worked on domestic policy, as a deputy assistant secretary of the Treasury in 1998-99.

Dr. McClellan, 40, will need all that expertise and more to carry out the new Medicare law successfully.

Under that law, Medicare beneficiaries can obtain drug discount cards this June and full-fledged drug benefits starting in January 2006. But the law also gives private health insurance plans a big new role in Medicare, and Democrats, who attack the legislation as overly generous to pharmaceutical and insurance companies, want sweeping changes, which the administration is resisting. As commissioner of food and drugs, Dr. McClellan has tried to stamp out, on safety grounds, a wave of support for allowing imports of lower-cost prescription drugs from Canada.

Dr. McClellan is the brother of the White House press secretary, Scott McClellan, and a son of the Texas comptroller, Carole Keeton Strayhorn, who has hinted that she may run for governor in two years.

Can you say cronyism?...I knew you could.

It's also another case of selling out the interests of the American people to the folks who have been camping out on Dubbyyuh's ass for years. The Republic is dead! Long live corporate America!

Iran Parliamentary Elections:Iranians Vote in Election That May End Reform Drive

By Parinoosh Arami and Paul Taylor
Fri February 20, 2004 06:24 AM ET

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Urged by prayer leaders to "slap America in the face," Iranians voted Friday in a disputed parliamentary election set to tighten hard-liners' grip on power and end President Mohammad Khatami's faltering reform drive.

A short, lackluster campaign was overshadowed by a ban on most reformist candidates and a crackdown on pro-reform media amid apparent public indifference. The main uncertainty concerns the turnout, with even the size of the electorate in dispute.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, among the first to cast his ballot, said the Islamic Republic's enemies were trying to deter young people from voting -- an apparent reference to a boycott by blacklisted reformist lawmakers and student groups.

"You see how those who are against the Iranian nation and the Islamic revolution are trying so hard to prevent people from going to the polls," Khamenei told state television.

Conservatives seem certain to dominate the new assembly after the Guardian Council, an unelected panel of hard-line clerics, disqualified 2,500 mainly reformist aspirants and a further 1,179 contenders withdrew.

As I, and many others, predicted the rhetoric against Iran and the actions of Dubbyuh's administration in the Middle East have lead to a retrenchment of Iran's hardliners. This will set back the progressive reforms that have been under way in Iran by several years, if not decades.

So long as Dubbyuh and his merry band remain in control of this nation, we can only expect more, and more serious, blowback from their policies.

A Comparison...

I've taken to watching C-SPAN when they braodcast procedings in the House of Commons, and I must say that the difference between Britain's Parliament and America's Congress is striking.

The level, speed and quality of the repartee in the House of Commons is, at times, breathtaking. The representatives are always there, and are not speaking before an empty gallery as theire counterparts in Congress often are.

And although he's Dubbyuh's lapdog and his intellectual superior (most anybody is), Tony Blair answers all of his critics cogently and with a sense of humor. I simply cannot see Dubbyuh engaging in such a rapid fire debate in Congress. He would stutter, stumble, get pissed off and storm out of the room.

Were it not for his daddy's name, Dubbyuh would be pumping gas in some dusty little Texas hell-hole and drinking what few brains he has out every night

U.S. Reasserts Right to Declare Citizens to Be Enemy Combatants

By ERIC LICHTBLAU

Published: January 8, 2004

WASHINGTON, Jan. 7 - The Bush administration on Wednesday reasserted its broad authority to declare American citizens to be enemy combatants, and it suggested that the Supreme Court consider two prominent cases at the same time.

The Justice Department, in a brief filed with the court, said it would seek an expedited appeal of a federal appeals court decision last month in the case of Jose Padilla, jailed as an enemy combatant in 2002.

The divided Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, in New York, ruled on Dec. 18 that President Bush lacked the authority to indefinitely detain an American citizen like Mr. Padilla who was arrested on American soil simply by declaring him an enemy combatant. Mr. Padilla has been held incommunicado at a military brig in South Carolina. American authorities say he plotted with operatives of Al Qaeda overseas to detonate a "dirty" radiological bomb in the United States.

But the Justice Department said in its brief that the ruling was "fundamentally at odds" with court precedent on presidential powers.

The decision "undermines the president's constitutional authority to protect the nation," Solicitor General Theodore B. Olson wrote.(emphasis mine)

In ruling that President Bush lacked the authority to indefinitely detain a US citizen, the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit simply reaffirmed the basic protections of the Constitution for US citizens. In advocating for the use of "enemy combatant" status for US citizens, the Bush administration is undermining the foundation of the Republic. The Administration is actively working to undermine the document its members have sworn to uphold and protect.

From Article II, Section I of the U.S. Constitution:

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

What does the arbitrary detention of a U.S. citizen, idefinitely and without charge, have to do with preserving, protecting and defending the Constitution? Nothing beyond the attempt to undermine and subvert it. This is how America will come under the yoke of tyranny. It will not come through violent revolution, it will come quietly, like a thief in the night. And this is but the beginning...

Orange Alert!...Yawn

I would take the orange alert alot more seriously if a few things had, or hadn't, occurred.

Firstly, it would have been nice if Congress had passed a bill requireing the US petro-chem industry to tighten security around the many plants in, or near, major US population centers. A few whispers in well placed ears and a few bucks in well placed pockets killed that bill. Opponents argued that passing the bill and putting it into force would have been to costly. What price human life?

It would have been nice if the Air Traffic Safety Administration hadn't laid off some 6,000 baggage screeners because the couldn't afford to pay them. Odd, the Bush administration found $89 billion lying around to provide a tax=cut for his campaign contributors. At an average of $10.00 an hour, it would cost roughly $120 million a year for 6,000 baggage screeners.

So, the next time Tom Ridge starts braying about the threat level, keep those figures in mind.

“Arrest shows U.S. critics wrongheaded”…

…At least that’s the header for a Dec 15th column by Cal Thomas. He says, “The critics – political and journalistic – who said the administration’s efforts were failing have been proved wrong.” I have to ask, “How so..?”

There have, as of this writing, been no weapons of mass destruction found in Iraq. Nor has any credible evidence of the existence of said weapons been found. The threat of weapons of mass destruction was, after all, the primary justification set forth by the Bush administration for the invasion of Iraq. But, just as the sands of Saudi Arabia shift with each little gust of wind, so to do the reasons set forth by the Bush administration for its dirty little war.

The possibility of a trial for Saddam must be giving those who supported his regime, both at home and abroad, chills at the thought of all their dirty linen being aired. But Mr. Thomas contends that “…Embarrassment should not be a reason for any cover-up…” I can’t help but wonder if Mr. Thomas feels the same when those who stand to be embarrassed are named Bush (Poppy), Rumsfeld, Cheney, Wolfowitz…I could go on, but I’m sure you get the point. Any mention of those names, and others who supported his rise to power, by Saddam will be scrubbed from any publicly released transcripts of his trial.

The entire Middle-East in general, and many Iraqis in particular, seem skeptical of U.S. motivations for invading Iraq. To say that it was just about oil is too simplistic. But it’s a safe bet that if Iraq’s only export had been arts and crafts, we wouldn’t be there now. Other motivating factors are were the need for the U.S. to draw down it’s military presence in Saudi Arabia…all of those troops are now in Iraq. And an attempt to take some of the pressure off of Ariel Sharone’s government by having the new Iraqi government make peace with Israel.

And let’s not forget all of the U.S. companies, who also not coincidentally, were contributors to Bush’s election campaign. Iraqi contractors can’t afford the kind of grease used on those skids. Iraq is being looted at the expense of the average Iraqi and the U.S. taxpayer. So, Mr. Thomas, how are the critics wrong?

The soldiers Bush didn't visit on Thanksgiving

By Joan Vennochi, 12/11/2003

THANKSGIVING in Baghdad was a political success for President Bush, and more. Even if the turkey he hoisted was chosen strictly for its photogenic qualities, the event showed the president connecting in a human way with men and women, far from home, in a place where life is blown apart in a cruel instant. Watching those young faces reminded all Americans, Bush backers or not, that war puts the country's flesh and blood on the line, not just its national pride or presidential politics.

For all that it conveyed, however, the Bush Thanksgiving extravaganza showed only one tiny slice of the daily, ugly reality of war and its aftermath for thousands of US service personnel and those who care for them...

"My `Bush Thanksgiving' was a little different . . . I spent it at the hospital taking care of a young West Point lieutenant wounded in Iraq. He had stabilization of his injuries in Iraq and then two long surgeries here for multiple injuries; he's just now stable enough to send back to the USA. After a few bites of dinner I let him sleep, and then cried with him as he woke up from a nightmare. When he pressed his fists into his eyes and rocked his head back and forth he looked like a little boy. They all do, all 19 on the ward that day, some missing limbs, eyes, or worse...

"It's too bad Mr. Bush didn't add us to his holiday agenda. The men said the same, but you'll never read that in the paper. Mr. President would rather lift fake turkeys for photo ops, it seems. Maybe because my patients wouldn't make very pleasant photos . . . most don't look all that great, and the ones with facial wounds and external fixation devices look downright scary. And a heck of a lot of them can't talk, anyway, and some never will talk again. . . Well, this is probably more than you want to know, but there's no spin on this one. It's pure carnage . . .

Howdy's support for the troops is limited to the high profile photo ops he gets at their expense. And no major US media outlet questioned the flummery and feel-good images from Howdy's visit to Iraq.

Bush laughs off critics of 'spoils of war' bidding

By Rupert Cornwell in Washington

12 December 2003

George Bush poured fuel on the flames of the Iraq contracts dispute yesterday with a sneering dismissal of a suggestion by the German Chancellor that the decision to bar Germany, France Russia and Canada from bidding might violate international law.

"International law? I'd better call my lawyer," the American President joked in response to a reporter's question at the White House.

Gerhard Schröder had spoken earlier after a meeting in Berlin with Kofi Annan, the UN secretary general. Mr Annan called the decision by Paul Wolfowitz, the Deputy Defence Secretary, "unfortunate" and likely to damage attempts to rebuild transatlantic ties bruised by disagreement over the war. The EU is examining the legality of the US moves to stop countries that had not participated in the war from bidding for the $18.6bn (£10.7bn) of contracts, on vague "national security" grounds.

Democrats seized on the episode as further evidence of Bush diplomatic blundering. "How do we get a coalition together when we're putting it out on a government website that a country like Canada is a national security risk to the United States?" Marty Meehan, a Democratic member of the House Armed Services Committee, said.

Howdy and Co seem hell-bent on alienating every ally we have ever had, or are likely to have. And he wants his consigliori, James Baker, to sweet talk Europe and Russia into restructuring Iraqs debt? They're just going to tell Baker to "Fuck off.", leaving American tax-payers saddled with both the federal deficit the Adminstration is running up AND Iraqs national debt. In the meantime, Howdy's corporate sponsors are laughing all the way to the bank.

Presidents Remade by War

By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN

Anyone who has listened to President Bush's recent speeches about the need to promote democracy in the Arab-Muslim world can't but walk away both impressed and dubious — impressed because promoting democracy in the Arab world is something no president before has advocated with Mr. Bush's vigor, and dubious because this sort of nation-building is precisely what Mr. Bush spurned throughout his campaign. Where did Mr. Bush's passion for making the Arab world safe for democracy come from?

Though the president mentioned this theme before the war, it was not something he stressed with the public, Congress or the U.N. in justifying an Iraq invasion. Rather, he relied primarily on the urgent need to pre-emptively strip Iraq of weapons of mass destruction.

A cynic might say that Mr. Bush was always interested only in stripping Iraq of its W.M.D. But with no W.M.D. having been unearthed thus far in Iraq, and with the costs of the war in lives and dollars soaring, the president felt he needed a new rationale. And so he focused on the democratization argument.

But there is another explanation, one that is not incompatible with the first but is less overtly cynical. It is a story about war and events and how they can transform a president.

"It often happens," argues Michael Sandel, the Harvard political theorist, "that presidents, under the pressure of events, especially during war, find themselves needing to articulate new and more persuasive rationales for their policies — especially when great sacrifices are involved.

The only sacrifices currently being made in Iraq and, lest we forget, Afghanistan, are the lives of US troops and innocent civilians. Here in the States, we get testy if we have to pay more than $1.75 for a gallon of gas. And the Adminstration urges us to go shopping in support of the war on terrorism...so much for biting the bullet in support of the war effort.

In securing the Homeland, some 6,000 airport baggages screeners were cut from the federal payroll to save money, yet $87 billion could be found to pay for the tax-cuts to Howdy's campaign contributors. Chemical factories, ready made WMD's near and in major US metropolitan areas continue to go unprotected, and legislation to force them to bring their security measures up to the threat has been killed in Congress...at the behest of the petro-chem industry.

Sorry, I got off track there...Bush's shift to justifying the war on Iraq as part of spreading democracy rings hollow in the face of all that has gone before it. It has the sound of the death row conversion of a convicted mass murderer...or a whore preaching about the virtues of chastity in Sunday school.