Bush's apparent rejection of the Iraq Study Group's urge that he pursue a diplomatic solution has the New York Times lead editorialist sounding scared and angry.
Mr. Bush’s lack of curiosity was well known even before he became president, but as time has gone on and bad news has mounted, that disinterested quality has turned into a stubborn refusal to hear bad news. The country simply cannot afford it any longer. Three years of having Mr. Bush trust only his gut has plunged Iraq into bloody chaos and done untold damage to America. There needs to be an urgent change in policy.
Mr. Hadley’s memo actually provides a clue to how Mr. Bush has managed to avoid facing hard facts. Despite the horrific situation it describes, the policy recommendations fail to convey any strong sense of urgency and seem to shrug off American responsibility for what has gone wrong. Either the president’s security adviser was afraid to be as blunt as the situation requires or he, too, has managed to convince himself that the disaster is really not all that disastrous.
The president’s advisers need to tell him all the harsh truths about Iraq in the vivid terms they require; they need to tell him how little time he has left to act.
Over at Salon, Joe Conason writes:
The Bush White House -- which seems poised to reject the anticipated recommendations of the Iraq Study Group chaired by James Baker III and Lee Hamilton -- evidently prefers the endless continuation of a ruinous military conflict to any conceivable resolution that requires negotiation and compromise. The ideological aversion to the normal processes of international relations was a principal cause of the debacle in Iraq, and that same aversion may now preclude any alternative to the ongoing carnage. To describe this behavior as irrational is to be excessively polite.
More and more columnists and experts are looking at Bush as though he is dangerous and nuts. Why, the Times asks, don't his advisors stop him?
But the real question is, since we know they're not going to, what can we -- and our new Congressional majority -- do to stop him? It's our country, after all...
