DETROIT -- When they're caught in their lies, they just keep on lying. George W. Bush and his gang find the truth about the war in Iraq so troubling they avoid it at whatever cost, knowing that making their lies live is the only possible way they can stay in power.
Bush made three major political speeches last week, repeating the litany of lies we are going to hear over and over for the next eight months. On the eve of the first anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, Bush went to Fort Campbell in Kentucky to visit troops from the 101st Airborne Division.
Bush loves to go to military bases because he is guaranteed large and blindly supportive crowds who will hooray even when he clears his throat or sneezes. We can expect much more of that throughout the campaign. Not once did Bush attend the funeral of any soldier killed in Iraq, although he's had more than 500 opportunities to do so.
This president only recognizes triumph. Messy things, like acknowledging death in a war of choice, send the wrong message. Bush also slipped on a military jacket for his speech. This sends the wrong constitutional message.
We have a government with civilian control of the military. As much as Bush would like to see his stated preference for dictatorship, that's just not how we play here. George W. shows the same fondness for military apparel as Fidel Castro and Saddam Hussein.
When he had a chance to wear a uniform for real, the evidence shows he kept it off as much as possible. And then there is that still-unexplained failure to show up for his pilot's annual physical, which would have required him to wear his Texas Air National Guard uniform.
I don't see anything offensive with the president slipping on a military jacket or baseball cap when on a ship, plane or tank. But when giving a formal speech, it's important that the commander in chief's apparel affirms, especially for the troops, civilian leadership of the military.
It's interesting to note that the three post-World War II presidents who most experienced the horrors of war firsthand -- Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy -- never dressed up like soldiers to suck up to the military. They had too much dignity and too much respect for those who rightly wear uniforms to attempt to exploit them. Such proper protocol doesn't occur to Bush, the grandstander in chief.
In his speech to the troops who returned from Iraq, Bush again used the purposely deceptive rhetoric that's been so effective in convincing people Saddam Hussein had a hand in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
In one of the most under-reported stories in modern times, Bush himself publicly admitted there is no evidence Saddam or Iraq had anything whatsoever to do with the al-Qaeda-organized attacks, funded by and largely staffed by Saudis.
In spite of that, Bush persists in claiming that, as a result of the war in Iraq, "a state sponsor of terror was put out of business ... because America and our allies acted, an aggressive threat to the security of the Middle East and to the peace of the world is now gone."
Then Bush began the very next sentence with the words, "Sept. 11, 2001 taught a lesson" -- a deliberate and deceptive attempt to link Iraq to the terrorist attacks and justify the war.
Saudi money and Saudi religious fanatics fostered the Sept. 11 attacks, but George W. Bush will never utter the truth of that link, nor does he want the American people to know how he and his minions ignored explicit and repeated warnings about al-Qaeda's murderous intentions.
This week, senior Clinton administration officials will testify before the independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks. This is the commission, you'll recall, that Bush opposed initially and whose work his people have been stonewalling and scuttling at every step of the way.
The former Clinton people -- including his Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Defense Secretary William Cohen and National Security Adviser Samuel "Sandy" Berger -- will tell the commission how they cautioned the incoming Bush administration that al-Qaeda posed the most dangerous security threat facing the United States.
Clinton's counterterrorism coordinator, Richard Clarke, will describe for the commission how he provided urgent intelligence briefings about the al-Qaeda threat for Bush's national security team during the transition between administrations. "Time" magazine broke the story of Clarke's warnings in August 2002. I mentioned it in a column then, but the blockbuster revelations got little media attention that summer.
Karl Rove might have been right at the time, when he said the administration would wait until September to unveil its sale pitch for war with Iraq.
Those who got the explicit warnings to watch out for al-Qaeda included Condoleezza Rice, Bush's national security adviser, her deputy, Stephen Hadley, and Philip Zelikow, a member of the transition team.
Clarke tells The New York Times and "60 Minutes" that his warnings about the al-Qaeda threat could not have been made more bluntly. "It was very explicit," Clarke said of his red flags. "Rice was briefed, and Hedley was briefed and Zelikow sat in."
Rice once said she "didn't recall" Clarke's briefings. That helps explain why she insisted that her testimony before the 9/11 Commission would not be given under oath and why she refused to be questioned in public.
Even Rice, the most incompetent and dishonest national security adviser ever, would certainly have told her boss, the president, about the ominous warning. What did George W., the great warrior against terror, do with the information? The evidence points to little or nothing.
Remember, his big national security push was to revive the Star Wars missile defense system, a dream for his pals in the military industry. Counterterrorism was not a Bush priority.
Clarke, who served in the White House in Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush's administrations, also has some revealing information about how George W. Bush and his handlers quickly shifted the focus to Iraq within hours of the Sept. 11 attacks.
Clarke says there was even talk of bombing Iraq when it was clear al-Qaeda was the culprit. "I think they wanted to believe there was a connection, but the CIA was sitting there, the FBI was sitting there saying, 'We've looked at this issue for years, for years and there's no connection,'" Clarke said.
In a book he wrote about his experiences, "Against All Enemies," Clarke writes that the president brushed off warnings that an unprovoked attack on Iraq would be a serious violation of international law, with Bush just saying, "I don't care what the international lawyers say. We are going to kick some ass."
Clarke recalls telling Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld that "there are a lot of good targets in a lot of places, but Iraq had nothing to do" with the terrorist attacks. I'm sure Rumsfeld will say he forgot that advice, and you know Condi Rice and Dick Cheney will say the same.
Last Friday marking the first anniversary of his unjust war, Bush invited representatives of 83 nations to the East Room of the White House and he urged the world to unite in combating terrorism.
This from the man who thumbed his nose at the United Nations and most of the world in his fixation to "get Saddam Hussein" and in the process diverted attention and resources from the real and immediate terrorist threat of al-Qaeda.
On Saturday, the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign was "officially" launched in Florida. Bush crisscrossed the state his pals on the Supreme Court handed him offering the message that, in our troubled world, America needs a president who will lead with "strength and character."
What we've actually gotten from George W. is mindless machismo, dry-drunk obsession and frightening ignorance. Bush is weak on fighting terrorism, which is far different from the despotism found in Saddam Hussein's Iraq.
Two telling illustrations. Our new best friend, Pakistan, remains a safe haven for terrorists and a cash-and-carry bazaar for crazy extremists to buy materials for nuclear weapons. Bush is soft on this serious threat. Saudi Arabia is the major financier and ideological fountain for bin Laden, al-Qaeda and other radical Islamist groups. George W. Bush covers for and coddles his Saudi pals to protect his family's own business interests. That is despicable.
In the days immediately following Sept. 11, Bush enabled scores of Saudis, including several bin Laden siblings and other family members, to slip out of the United States. The no-fly order was lifted to accommodate them and the Saudis, who knew plenty, got out in a hurry without undergoing normal FBI interrogations, which would have taken weeks. George W. Bush refuses to explain for the 9/11 Commission why and how this happened.
Richard Clarke, in his interview with "60 Minutes," presents a view that captures George W. Bush just as he is. "Frankly," Clarke said, "I find it outrageous that the president is running for re-election on the grounds that's he's done such great things about terrorism. He ignored it. He ignored terrorism for months, when maybe we could have done something to stop 9/11. Maybe. We'll never know." Clarke went on to express the ringing truth of George W. Bush's failed presidency, saying, "I think he's done a terrible job on the war against terrorism." Say it from every mountain top.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | March 23 2004 |