>>In view of the current situation in Iraq, and elsewhere, it seems to me that the leadership of this country, Executive/Legislative/Judicial, should be concentrating on moving forward from the position of today, not prostituting their time and energy on yesterday. <<
If it were an honest mistake, I'd agree -- making sure it doesn't happen again would be adequate. But there's increasing evidence that it wasn't an honest mistake -- that as O'Neill said, the Bush team wanted an excuse and set out to find one. That's not "honest," and they shouldn't be given a pass. The Bush Administration are responsible for at three major screw-ups in foreign policy. Two (Iraq itself, and the damage our position has done with our former friends and the world) are related; the third is the mess Bush made in North Korea, a situation that was stabe until he started sword rattling at them almost from Day One. What do the two situations have in common? Bush came into office with a visceral dislike of Saddam and Kum-Jung Il. Neither of them are nice people -- but the leader of the free world cannot be considered competetent if he acts out of personal dislike, or desire for vengeance, to the detriment of the nation and the world. And I submit that Bush has acted in precisely that fashion with regard to both Korea and Iraq.
Before you dismiss this as simply more of my anti-Republican rhetoric, contrast Bush's behavior in this regard to those of his Republican predecessors, Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, with regard to Russia and China. Yes, Reagan was tough with them -- but he was willing to negotiate when necessary and possible. Instead, Bush's overly simplistic, black/white approach is "you're either for us or against us." There's no wonder Bush wants to exploit the 9/11 situation -- the only aspect of his Preisdency where he hasn't been a complete disaster was the period from 9/11 until around May 2002, with regard to domestic security and the attack on Afghanistan and Al-qaeda (the latter based on Clinton-era military plans!)
-- Dave K, Speakeasy Moderator
click here to email semods4@yahoo.com
The opinions expressed above are my own,
and do not necessarily reflect those of CNET!
BTW, I don't think you mean "prostituting" their time -- probably "wasting" is enough.