[Vision2020] Why Start Trusting Bush Now? (Leonard Pitts Jr.)

[Tom Hansen]

>From today's (January 12, 2007) Spokesman Review -

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Why start trusting Bush now?

Leonard Pitts Jr. 
Miami Herald
January 12, 2007

So finally we have a glimpse of President Bush's new plan for Iraq. And who
can be surprised that the new plan is basically to do what he did under the
old plan, except more.

Twenty thousand more, to be exact. That's the rough amount by which Bush
wants to bump American troop strength. The reinforcements, he explained in
his televised speech Wednesday night, would largely be used to secure
Baghdad. Baghdad is, of course, one of the less secure cities on Earth,
epicenter of an insurgency that has killed thousands of Iraqis and
Americans.

The decision to increase troop strength is remarkable, coming, as it does,
from a president who has consistently defended existing troop levels as
adequate to get the job done. But then, he's also a president who has
consistently said he could not think of any mistakes he made in prosecuting
the so-called War on Terror.

Yet, there he was, belatedly admitting that he has pursued a flawed strategy
based on false assumptions. "Where mistakes have been made," he said, "the
responsibility rests with me." Contrary to a prediction his critics have
often made, this admission of error and acceptance of responsibility did not
cause Bush's lips to fall off.

I'll be honest: I have no earthly idea whether an influx of 20,000 troops
will be sufficient to cure what ails Iraq and its capital city. Your humble
correspondent is not an expert on military force levels. Nor, for that
matter, are the vast majority of the other pundits who will happily opine on
this question in days to come. I'd love to be able to say whether bringing
in more troops will pacify Baghdad long enough to get the electricity turned
back on. And, for that matter, whether turning on the electricity will, at
this late date, make a difference.

But the fact is, I don't know. Tell you what I do know, however. I know that
we've been misled to an awful intersection of history where there are no
good options, only options in varying shades of bad.

I know how tempting it is to say we ought to wash our hands of this mess and
bring our men and women home.

I know that it still strikes me as wrong, for reasons both moral and
pragmatic, to come in, blow up these people's country, then leave them in
the rubble.

Most of all, though, I know this: I do not trust my leaders. And politics is
not the only, or even the primary, reason. No, at the end of the day, this
is a question of character.

>From the beginning, the architects of this war have shown a frightening
nonchalance toward truth, a troubling willingness to treat fact as optional.
Where reality has collided with political expedience, political expedience
has invariably won. Where it has been inconvenient, it has simply been
ignored.

It happened when the administration linked Iraq to the Sept. 11 terrorist
attacks even though one had nothing to do with the other. It happened when
the White House used discredited intelligence to make the case for war. It
happened when the president airily dismissed gloomy intelligence reports
that did not jibe with his preferred view. It happened when he kept
insisting we "stay the course" even after it became apparent to everyone
with eyes that the course led straight off a cliff.

So now, here comes Bush with sober mien and chastened air asking for one
more chance to get it right. And if you sense in this corner a reluctance to
comply, well it has less to do with the merits of his proposed strategy than
with the fact that it is his proposed strategy. Bush is a man who has
heretofore shown only arrogance in the face of monumental and fatal
misjudgments. Now he comes before the country asking us, in effect, to trust
him.

And for the life of me, I can't think of a single reason why I should.

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Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

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"In America, anybody can become president.  
That's one of the risks you take . . ."

- Adlai Stevenson

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