Anderson Cooper (9/19) David Gergen and Frank Rich

[underpants]

I usually refrain from the news shows these days but I am glad I caught this last night.

Gergen makes a point about the misdirected black v. white Bush argument/rhetoric that I have not heard anywhere else. Maybe I just missed it but this sounds like it could have worked.

Frank Rich's book looks like it could be a summary of the dizzying spin of the Bush administration.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0609/19/acd.01.html

COOPER: It -- it is interesting. You know, he -- he continues to say this is not a war against Islam. And -- and, yet, this administration clearly has kind of painted the opponents overseas sort of members of this global jihad, as they refer to, with a very broad brush.

We -- we -- we haven't really been looking at the differences within the Muslim world. We -- we tend to kind of look at it as if it is this monolithic group, when, in fact, it is clearly not. There are so many divisions. And those are divisions which, frankly, the U.S. could do a better job of -- of -- of exploiting.

GERGEN: You are absolutely right.

If -- if -- in -- in the past, a president like Richard Nixon, as -- whatever else we may think about his morals, at least on the international stage, I can guarantee you he would not have lumped these people together.

What he would have done was try to divide and conquer, look for ways -- how do you break Syria off from Iran? How do you offer some incentives for Syria to act more peacefully? And then try to isolate Iran. Don't drive them all together. Don't try to take on Hamas, Hezbollah, al Qaeda, Muslim Brotherhood. Don't take on all these forces together and create a -- a coherent, united front -- front against you.

Divide them up. Conquer. Bring a few over as your allies. Bring -- neutralize a few others. And, then, you have got great strength from that. And I -- I think that the diplomatic community in the -- in the United States, and, indeed overseas, is quite troubled by this, what they see as a lack of sophistication in this approach, in which everybody is lumped together. They're all -- you know, it's forces of good vs. forces of evil.

And, as we know, in Iraq, you know, calling this forces of good vs. forces of evil, when our own General Abizaid was saying today, this is really not about the insurgency. It is becoming more about the sectarian violence. Some of our guys, who are on our side -- quote -- "the forces of good," you know, are murdering the other side.

You know, it's -- it's -- it is more complex. And he -- you know, the president has got a problem with his own military now. They are saying things which are out of tune with what he's saying.

____

FRANK RICH, ASSOCIATE EDITOR, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": I think what makes this administration different is the sheer scale of the fiction that they told.

They concocted a story that was amazing. It took a country to war against a country that had nothing to do with -- with 9/11, with the people who attacked us, when America was attacked. Also, it continued, even after the war began, to be just incredibly elaborate.

I mean, look at something like "Mission Accomplished." "Mission Accomplished" was not just fiction, in the sense that it was announcing major combat operations had ended, when they hadn't. It wasn't just a -- a banner saying "Mission Accomplished." It was a scene from "Top Gun." This is really elaborate, smart stuff, has been incredibly effective, and, to some extent, continues to be, a bit.

COOPER: Why do you think this administration pushed to go war in -- in Iraq, especially in that summer of 2002?

RICH: Well, we don't really know.

And a lot of people who were even there say, it's like the "Rashomon" of wars. There's so -- there -- there's a lot of plausible reasons. We know there was a neoconservative contingent that saw this as a chance to bring democracy, in some way, to the Middle East, to set an example for the Middle East.

We know, obviously, there are interests involving oil. There are things going back to the 1991 Gulf War and -- and scores left to be settled.

But what was it really about? I feel, in part, it was an election year. We had knocked out the Taliban, or we thought we had, at least. Osama bin Laden had been lost in Tora Bora. And that was known by the administration, if not immediately by the American public. And this was sort of a handy next front.