Cato: Bush Hoping for Mass Amnesia

[Barrett808]

Cato: Bush Hoping for Mass Amnesia
by Doug Bandow

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton's commitment to doing the popular thing politically was legendary. He has met his match, however. If anything, President George W. Bush is even more devoted to turning everything to his political advantage.

The day after former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein appeared in the dock in Baghdad, a story appeared in the Washington Times headlined "Bush Backers See Trial Taking Focus Off WMDs (weapons of mass destruction)." White House spokesman Scott McClellan and Bush campaign manager Ken Mehlman both publicly pointed to Hussein's brutality. One unnamed source told the newspaper: "Put aside the WMDs, and go look at the mass graves."

The Bush administration's strategy is clear: After taking the United States into war based on a lie, get Americans to forget the lie. Playing the humanitarian card just won't do. The administration was blissfully unconcerned about mass graves before 9/11. There were no plans to oust Hussein and end his tyranny even as his security forces continued to arrest, torture, and murder people.

Moreover, after preparing for war, Bush offered to call off the attack if Hussein went into exile. Hauling Hussein into court and creating Western-style democracy were dispensable objectives.

The supposedly charity-minded administration has done nothing about millions of dead in Congo, starvation and civil war in Sudan, and ongoing Russian brutality in Chechnya, to name just a few humanitarian catastrophes around the globe.

(more)

http://www.cato.org/dailys/07-15-04-2.html

[Demeter]

1. What Is Plan B?

Oh, the military coup, followed by civil war in America.Messy, sure to lose that one, not to mention wealth and life.

OK. What is Plan C? The Man Without a Country to Escape life sentence in the Hague.

And Plan D? Kool-Aid ala Jim Jones?

[Miss Authoritiva]

2. This war has been repositioned in the marketplace one time too many.

Relabeled and repackaged, it nonetheless remains what it always was: a crap product. An Edsel. New Coke. Clear Gravy. Clackers. Fluffernutter. Chef of the Future.

Not that the mainstream media didn't give it all the free infomercial time it needed -- and more. Still, it's time to stop production. Settle up with the creditors. Replace the CEO, CFO, and COO. And move on to something else.