Richard Cohen: Unshakable Faith

[kskiska]

Late last month the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that George W. Bush had told the Palestinian prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas, that he had gone to war in Afghanistan and Iraq on instructions from God. The White House promptly and vociferously denied the account, but I'd like to believe it anyway. I have to. The purported instructions from God remain about the only explanation for some of what Bush has done -- not only overseas but at home as well. Repeatedly, the Bush administration has merely asserted something to be true, neglecting either to prove it or even to make much of a case for it. Iraq is a perfect example.

(snip)

But Bush, it is now clear, did. He believed -- virtually without evidence -- that Saddam and bin Laden were in cahoots. Why? It's hard to say, but probably because they were both evil. Evil leaders do evil things and they do them together. The evidence for this is lacking, to be sure, but you have to take it as a matter of faith. Bush did.

Similarly, it was a matter of faith that once the United States invaded Iraq, it would crumble. That was a given. This explains why an insufficient number of troops were on hand when the war started. It explains further why, once the war was won, an insufficient number of troops were available to control the country. The result has been a catastrophe -- the constant loss of American lives and an occupation that is costing about $4 billion a month.

(snip)

The favorite Bush grammatical construction is the tautology: Something is bad because it's bad. A synaptic leap is made in which a certain cause will have a certain effect -- never mind why. Things are stated with certainty, but the proof of them is not apparent. This may explain why Bush seems so sanguine about presenting evidence of an Iraqi nuclear program that later turned out to be not true. It doesn't matter. Because it ought to be, it is.

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A3467-2003Jul16.html

[grytpype]

1. Finally, someone noticed!

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. Ok does this mean that now I can

stop reading weird places?
Bout bloody time...

[Beetwasher]

3. Damn! Ties it all together nicely!

I'm in shock I tells ya!