Fool Me Twice
by Colonel Daniel Smith, USA (Ret.)
A date to remember will be the night of June 20, 2006. That’s the night Congress was fooled for the second time.
Remember October 2002 and Iraq?
So much has happened since then that it seems like ancient history.
Or at least that is what the Bush administration would like to have the public think. One constant theme that emanates from the White House is that whatever mistakes might have been made in the past – e.g., the reasons given to justify going to war with Saddam Hussein’s Iraq – that’s behind us. It’s “water under the bridge” or maybe “over the damn” – take your pick.
The latest example of trying to spin this web occurred in Vienna, Austria on June 21 during a presidential press conference following the U.S.-European Union summit. Asked why Europeans in recent opinion polls held the United States in low regard as a force for peace, Bush in effect discounted the poll results as a perceptual problem for Europeans. He had made decisions he thought best for the United States and the world, and it was simply unfortunate that Europeans happened not to agree with him. (more…)