Dowd: Dump Cheney Now!

[kskiska]

WASHINGTON — The awful part is that George W. Bush and Saddam Hussein were both staring into the same cracked spook- house mirror.

Thanks to David Kay, we now have an amazing image of the president and the dictator, both divorced from reality over weapons, glaring at each other from opposite sides of bizarro, paranoid universes where fiction trumped fact.

It would be like a wacky Peter Sellers satire if so many Iraqis and Americans hadn't died in Iraq.

These two would-be world-class tough guys were willing to go to extraordinary lengths to show that they couldn't be pushed around. Their trusted underlings misled them with fanciful information on advanced Iraqi weapons programs that they credulously believed because it fit what they wanted to hear.

Saddam was swept away writing his romance novels, while President Bush was swept away with the romance of rewriting the end of the 1991 Persian Gulf war to finish off the thug who tried to kill his dad.

The two men both had copies of "Crime and Punishment" — Condi Rice gave Mr. Bush the novel on his trip to Russia in 2002, and Saddam had Dostoyevsky down in the spider hole — but neither absorbed its lesson: that you can't put yourself above rules just because you think you're superior.

more…
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/29/opinion/29DOWD.html

[demgrrrll]

1. Is she nuts? Bush gets a pass? I don't think so. n/t.

.

[The Zanti Regent]

9. Whoreen ALWAYS gives Bush a pass.

That sick slut is too busy bashing Al Gore and the Clintons.

I hope someone outsources HER job to India!

[aquart]

2. What utter crap. Georgie was "misled." Like hell he was.

He went into office planning to take Iraq, and to move on from Iraq to Iran and Syria. He saw the US as holding the world's largest supply of oil hostage and the rest of the world begging for mercy.

He was not misled. Iraq was exactly where he intended to go.

[Frances]

6. It wasn't Cheney who was mad because he thought

that Saddam had threatened to kill his Daddy. Cheney just wanted the oil. Bush wanted to prove he was better than his Daddy AND the oil.

[grytpype]

3. It's amazing that once in awhile MoDo can write a coherent column.

About one out of four.

[priller]

8. I don't think this is one of them

Oh well, it's coherent enough, it's just wrong on many points.

[grytpype]

4. Hmmm...

Certainly the C.I.A. has a lot to answer for. . . . They were probably relying too much on the Arabian Nights tales of Ahmad Chalabi, eager to spread the word of Saddam's imaginary nuclear-tipped weapons juggernaut because it suited his own ambitions — and that of his Pentagon pals.

This is wrong, isn't it? THe CIA knew Chalabi was untrustworthy, but Rummy and Condi and Wolfie and Dougie just loved him.

[thebigidea]

5. incredibly wrong. She should know better... Chalabi was the OSP's boy

[countmyvote4real]

7. MoDo = DooDoo

[Mecil]

10. Once back a year ago...

Once back a year ago I actually liked Dowds columns. Then she had latched onto Krugman's stance and was - along with him - the only voice in the mainstream media, who was critical of the Bush admin.

Which is why it's so sad to see that all she has done lately is just trash. Worrying about Mrs. Dean's ladyness and Clark's sweaters, and it seems she just continues. Wonder what got her back into the mainstream fold of "Don't blame Bush" and "Talk about irrelevant faults of the democratic candidates", someone threatened her paycheck maybe?

[dennis4868]

11. How does Dowd explain this....

DIA WARNINGS IGNORED: In September, 2002, the Defense Intelligence Agency (http://www.iraqwatch.org/government/US/Pentagon/us-dod-iraqchemreport-060703.htm) told the White House that there is " no reliable information (http://www.ceip.org/files/nonprolif/templates/article.asp?NewsID=4928) on whether Iraq is producing and stockpiling chemical weapons." The report also said, "A substantial amount of Iraq's chemical warfare agents, precursors, munitions, and production equipment were destroyed between 1991 and 1998 as a result of Operation Desert Storm and UN actions."

DOE WARNINGS IGNORED: In September, 2002, the Energy Department's technical experts warned the White House that the aluminum tubes Iraq was seeking --the central basis for the conclusion that Iraq was reconstituting its nuclear weapons program -- were ill-suited to build centrifuges for enriching uranium (http://www.ceip.org/files/projects/npp/pdf/Iraq/declassifiedintellreport.pdf) . In fact, Secretary Powell even admitted before the U.N (http://64.4.30.250/cgi-bin/linkrd?_lang=EN&lah=d0956f80e6ea7a784d97d87731e8d3bd&lat=1075302281&hm___action=http%3a%2f%2fwww%2ecnn%2ecom%2f2003%2fUS%2f02%2f05%2fsprj%2eirq%2epowell%2etranscript%2e07%2f) . that there was controversy over the tubes.

STATE DEPT. INTELLIGENCE WARNINGS IGNORED: In October, 2002, the State Department's Intelligence and Research Department (INR) told the White House that its WMD conclusions were inaccurate (http://www.ceip.org/files/projects/npp/pdf/Iraq/declassifiedintellreport.pdf) . Its report said, "the activities we have detected do not ... add up to a compelling case that Iraq is currently pursuing what INR would consider to be an integrated and comprehensive approach to acquiring nuclear weapons." The Financial Times on 7/30/03 noted that this warning was specifically reiterated to Secretary Powell during the preparations of his U.N. speech, but again was ignored.

AIR FORCE INTELLIGENCE WARNINGS IGNORED: While President Bush said Iraq had Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) that could spray biological weapons on American soil, the WP reported on 9/26/03 that "the government organization most knowledgeable about UAV programs - the Air Force's National Air and Space Intelligence Center - had sharply disputed that notion" to the White House, but was ignored.

[indepat]

12. If only the mainstream media could connect all the dots as you have and

live up to their obligation in a free society to keep the people informed in the spirit of the Pulitzer Credo, the neocons would be toast! Sadly, most will continue to shill for rather than expose.

[Beetwasher]

13. Let's Assume Her Premise is True

and he was misled by Cheney et al. Well, you know what? That's almost as bad if not worse. That means Bush is an incompetent, buffoon and a puppet who's not in charge. What an amazing piece of apologist bullshit.