Nov 122005
There is a portion of GWB’s Veterans’ day speech with which I think we can all agree:
…the civilized world knows very well that other fanatics in history, from Hitler to Stalin to Pol Pot, consumed whole nations in war and genocide before leaving the stage of history. Evil men, obsessed with ambition and unburdened by conscience, must be taken very seriously — and we must stop them before their crimes can multiply.
If the shoe fits, Mr. “President”…
Dubya is not evil, it is an insult to the victims of evil men everywhere to claim that he is.
Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity. –“Hanlon’s Razor”
Clearly Dubya is in way over his head. Having lived inside the beltway for ten years I can tell you I’ve seen it many times. Whenever someone says they may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer but they will surround themselves with smart people, it’s a train wreck waiting to happen. Whenever the dumbest guy in the room is making the decision the outcome will not be good.
“Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.” – Samuel Johnson
When Dubya criticize his opponents (not his enemies) as being unpatriotic for criticizing him, he fell squarely into scoundrel territory.
Did he shape prewar intelligence? Lets connect the dots. All of the contrary opinions were suppressed. A reporter was in the Oval Office during a security briefing and able to over hear the “slam dunk†comment. That is actually a criminal offense if it were really a briefing. If an uncleared person enters an area all security matters cease immediately, period. It is so far outside standard operating procedures that it had to be stagged. Even if Dubya in his perpetual daze didn’t know, certainly the Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) would have. Tenet then received the Medal of Freedom for the worse failure in intelligences since Pearl Harbor. Some might even argue it was worse the Pearl. Dubya’s hand picked successor for the DCI post refuses to investigate the problems. This does not prove a cover up but it certainly is stronger evidence there was a cover up then the evidence for Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs) in Iraq.
What should be done? I’m not sure shaping intelligence is even a crime let alone an impeachable offense. Let call on the Dubya to fire Cheney (actually he can only insist he resign) and appoint Colin Powell as VP. Then he should resign. That way, the only person in the administration who seemed to know what the hell was going on would at least be in charge.
I’m not saying we should cut and run in Iraq, that would be a bigger disaster then we already have, but it should be clear to even the most ardent right wing conservatives that Dubya is in way over his head. There is almost no chance he will be able to get us out of the fluster cluck he lead us into.