OLIPHANT: What Bush didn't say about the war

[kpete]

THOMAS OLIPHANT
What Bush didn't say about the war
By Thomas Oliphant, Globe Columnist | December 1, 2005

WASHINGTON
HAD PRESIDENT Bush chosen to be candid and honest yesterday at the Naval Academy, he could have added a simple sentence to his oration on how marvelously things are going in Iraq.

That sentence would read: Representative Jack Murtha is correct. In fact, if anything, the pro-military Democrat from Pennsylvania probably understated his case that the United States can and should withdraw its troops from Iraq over the next six months, leaving only a rapid response force in one of the Persian Gulf emirates.

Instead of staying a course to nowhere, the opportunity for Americans now is to recognize that in a few weeks Iraq will have an elected government and tens of thousands of armed adults who need to take the next step.

For their sake, as well as ours, we need to begin standing down so Iraqis can stand up. Bush has that exactly backwards.


http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/12/01/what_bush_didnt_say_about_the_war/

[gratuitous]

1. Bush? Candid and honest?

Pardon me, Mr. Oliphant, and please don't take this the wrong way, because sometimes irony in print doesn't quite come through, but:

Are you out of your fucking mind? George W. Bush? Candor? Honesty? Puh-fuckin'-leeze, Louise! Bush didn't become the man he is today by trafficking in the truth, and it may be that he is genetically incapable of being honest, if we can judge in any way by his public pronouncements and those of his family.

Bush. Honest. Pfffft!