Kind words for the President

I know it's been covered to death, but I figured I'd go on the record and get it out of the way. Here's what I think happened about us getting into Iraq. (Getting out is a whole 'nother post.)

George W. Bush came into office with a mad-on against Saddam Hussein. Saddam had not only escaped his Dad's ultimate wrath during Gulf War I - made more embarrassing for the son by the fact that it was his Dad who didn't 'finish the job' - but then years later Saddam actually tried to have his Dad killed. Now that the dutiful son was President, all Saddam had to do was fart wrong to draw America's reprobation. Actually, he didn't even need to do that.

Because before you knew it, 9/11 happened and everybody fell in line behind our banners and flags and goose-stepped patriotically in unison, giving our callow, untested President carte blanche to wage war on the country's enemies at his personal discretion. And by “us,” I mean our elected leaders.

Slam dunk!

So kiss your bottom goodbye, Saddam. How convenient that you're the same skin color and speak the same crazy moon language as the villains who flew airplanes into our skyscrapers. By the time we're done selling this war, nobody will be able to tell the difference between you!

Here are the kind words I have for the President. (Bet you thought I forgot, eh?) I think the Bush administration honestly believed Saddam Hussein was a lot more dangerous than he turned out to be. I think they said, “Let's go in and kick Saddam's ass, produce his WMDs for all the world to see, and all this pre-war spinning will be borne out as truth. No one will look too closely at the details afterward. Winners write the history. Heh heh heh.” They rolled the dice on what everybody agreed looked like a sure bet.

And if Saddam had turned out to be sitting on the apocalyptic cache of state-of-the-art weaponry we were told he was, we'd be carving Mr. Bush's smirking visage onto Mount Rushmore right now.

Instead Saddam turned out to be all moustache and no camel, and now it matters what kind of chicanery led up to the calamitous situation in which we find ourselves. Which facts were embellished, and what exculpatory facts were ignored? What did Mr. Bush know, and when did he know it? And for God's sake, if he didn't know, why not? They say President Clinton had the same flawed intel - why didn't he attack Iraq?

Time will tell, and that's the thing that will doom Mr. Bush's presidency in the long run. Having made such a mess of affairs on the ground in Iraq, Mr. Bush has guaranteed that hearings will be held after his right-wing gang has been elected out of office. He may well escape the long arm of the law (presidential pardons have a rich tradition all their own), but the longer arm of history is certain to give him the spanking he so richly deserves.