Arrogance (12/6/2005)

President Bush’s administration wallows in arrogance, denial and spin.

Bush claims that Congress had the same pre-war intelligence that he had when it authorized him, if necessary, to go to war in Iraq. But, as we learn more about the gathering and use of pre-war intelligence, we see that Congress did not have ALL of the information Bush had, and that Bush selected ONLY that intelligence which would support his case for war. He’s denying it and, with his lackeys in Congress, has tried to stop any investigation and criticism of what he knew when and how it was used. About the outing of a CIA agent, Bush claims that didn’t come from the White House. Oh really? Thanks to the Democrats, further investigations finally are happening. Yet Bush continues to spin that, though we found no WMDs, this war is still a good thing and we are making progress. But are we? Washington Post columnist Dan Balz says in a November 25 article : “Most military appraisals of Iraq foresee a long road of violence and instability ahead as well as substantial U.S. troop presence for the indefinite future.”

Bush’s preemptive war policy and ensuing tactics have terribly damaged America’s standing in the world. We still aren’t told who really was responsible for torture at Abu Ghraib; a few low-ranking soldiers have taken the heat and prison terms. Yet Defense Secretary Rumsfeld takes no responsibility and denies that he ever encouraged or approved such behavior. Recently we learned that white phosphorus, a chemical weapon banned by international law, was used in the raid on Fallujah last year. An Italian documentary exposed this horror, which the Bush administration at first denied, then said it was used only to illuminate enemy hiding places. Now some military officials have admitted that it was used to “shake and bake”—that is, flush out the enemy and burn them. But, in fact, innocent women and children also were killed this way. Remember when Bush told us how horrible Saddam Hussein was because he used torture and chemical weapons on his people?

A leaked memo in Britain’s Daily Mirror last month said Bush wanted to bomb Al Jazeera’s headquarters in Qatar. Al Jazeera is the Arabic television channel that irritates the Bush administration. Bush ally Prime Minister Tony Blair is trying to prevent publication of the document which “records a threat by Bush to unleash ‘military action’ against the TV station which America accuses of being a mouthpiece for anti-U.S. sentiments.” The White House spin from press secretary Scott McClellan is: “We are not interested in dignifying something so outlandish and inconceivable with a response.” Oh really?

The arrogance of Bush and his team just keeps growing. They call their critics cowards and unpatriotic and secretly slime them. Larry Wilkerson, who was chief of staff to former Secretary of State Colin Powell, said that Vice President Cheney and Defense Secretary Rumsfeld head a cabal who encouraged Bush to wield unbridled power after the 9/11 attacks. Their pitch was “Mr. President, in this new world you are all powerful. There is no power of the Congress that can stop you. You are commander in chief of the armed forces. You have the perfect right in this new world, where we are seeking security against this new and unprecedented threat, to make any rules or regulations you want.”

But Americans are waking up to the fact that they have misplaced their trust in Bush. Recent polls show that 60% do not see Bush as honest and trustworthy. Nearly two-thirds oppose the war and think he deliberately misled the public. Bush has to come clean, admit his mistakes and tell Americans the truth; stop the denial, spin and arrogance. Three more years are left in his term. It’s time to let democracy work.

- Judith Kohler

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