President Bush Finishes Charm Offensive on Iraq

The excellent Sunday night programming on Fox was delayed for a while last night as President Bush addressed the American people on the subject by which history will judge him, Iraq. It was the first time since he launched his war of aggression against Iraq that he has spoken from the Oval Office on the subject, and it was the first time he waved an olive branch at his domestic detractors, admitting mistakes. He now reminds one of President Lyndon Johnson so much that one expected to see his appendectomy scar before the speech ended.

The president has taken on board some advice (he probably didn't think of it himself) to debate his opponents rather than attack their patriotism. Apparently, Congressman John Murtha, a former marine and ultra-hawk, isn’t the kind of guy an administration of chicken hawks can attack in that way. His call for a timely redeployment (which is actually what he suggested, not immediately withdrawal) gave other Democrats covering fire to question the White House, and the majority of the electorate now doubts Mr. Bush has a plan for Iraq.

Most troubling was his straw man argument and his continued confusion between Iraq and Al Qaeda. Repeating a lie doesn’t make it true, Dr. Goebbels notwithstanding. “If you think the terrorists would become peaceful if only America would stop provoking them, then it might make sense to leave them alone,” he said last night. No one believes that. What his detractors believe is that there were no terrorists in Iraq before the war, and they know that there are now. The war in Iraq created more terrorists than there were before March 2003 and created them in a nation that had been a dictatorship, but terrorist-free.

Of course, this may have been a desperate attempt to prevent congressional hearings on the reports that he has ordered the National Security Agency to spy on US citizens without a warrant and has renewed the order 30 times. On Saturday, he tried to defend this saying that as commander-in-chief the constitution gave him this power. This seems to be the application of the Nixon rule, “if the president does it, it can’t be against the law.” The German term is fuhrerprinzip. It appears nowhere in the US Constitution, but President Lyndon Johnson created the CIA’s Domestic Operations Division [DOD], to “exercise centralized responsibility for direction, support, and coordination of clandestine operations activities within the United States….” There are differences, though, between Iraq and Vietnam; for instance, Iraq’s is a dry heat.

In the end, Mr. Bush believes that withdrawal is not an option. His opponents believe staying is not an option. Sadly, both are right as things stand. That is the true measure of a failed policy, when the only options left are bad. His successor will still have tens of thousands of US troops in Iraq on January 20, 2009, and then, the running sore will cease to be Mr. Bush’s problem, only his legacy – just like Vietnam become Mr. Nixon’s problem and LBJ’s legacy. At least, Mr. Bush hasn’t picked up his dogs Barney and Mrs. Beasley by the ears, yet.


© Copyright 2005 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.
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