US and the World

Bush's Iraq Illusions

Mr. Bush and Iraq

It's about time! The editorial page of the Washington Post has been a real disappointment in its toadying to the Bush administration. This Sunday editorial some would say blistered Bush. I don't think so. But it did put the spotlight squarely on the deceit being foisted on us.

Yet Mr. Bush, who spent the week campaigning for reelection, has offered scant acknowledgment of the quandary he faces or of the worsening state of a mission that has dominated more than half of his first term. His description of Iraq is bland to the point of dishonesty: "Despite ongoing acts of violence," he repeated Friday, "that country has a strong prime minister, they've got a national council and they are going to have elections in January of 2005." Not only has Mr. Bush not said how, or whether, he intends to respond to the worsening situation; he doesn't really admit it exists. [emphasis added]

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Whatever his rhetoric, Mr. Bush deserves to be judged by this record. In our view, it is one of courage in setting goals and steadfastness in sticking to them but also one of extraordinary recklessness and incompetence in execution.

I beg to differ that he has a record of courage in setting goals and steadfastness in sticking to them. His record is one of failure to grasp the significance of the context within which his blinkered goal-setting is playing out. He is OBL's top player, perhaps al Qaeda's most valuable player hardly a profile in courage. They got the rest of it right.