The War President - By PAUL KRUGMAN

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[Zepps_News] Krugman: The War President - New York Times

 

 

 

 

<http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/24/opinion/24krugman.html?hp>

 

Op-Ed Columnist

The War President

 

By PAUL KRUGMAN

Published: June 24, 2005

 

VIENNA

 

In this former imperial capital, every square seems to contain a giant

statue of a Habsburg on horseback, posing as a conquering hero.

 

America's founders knew all too well how war appeals to the vanity of

rulers and their thirst for glory. That's why they took care to deny

presidents the kingly privilege of making war at their own discretion.

 

But after 9/11 President Bush, with obvious relish, declared himself a

" war president. " And he kept the nation focused on martial matters by

morphing the pursuit of Al Qaeda into a war against Saddam Hussein.

 

In November 2002, Helen Thomas, the veteran White House correspondent,

told an audience, " I have never covered a president who actually wanted

to go to war " - but she made it clear that Mr. Bush was the exception.

And she was right.

 

Leading the nation wrongfully into war strikes at the heart of

democracy. It would have been an unprecedented abuse of power even if

the war hadn't turned into a military and moral quagmire. And we won't

be able to get out of that quagmire until we face up to the reality of

how we got in.

 

Let me talk briefly about what we now know about the decision to invade

Iraq, then focus on why it matters.

 

The administration has prevented any official inquiry into whether it

hyped the case for war. But there's plenty of circumstantial evidence

that it did.

 

And then there's the Downing Street Memo - actually the minutes of a

prime minister's meeting in July 2002 - in which the chief of British

overseas intelligence briefed his colleagues about his recent trip to

Washington.

 

" Bush wanted to remove Saddam, " says the memo, " through military action,

justified by the conjunction of terrorism and W.M.D. But the

intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy. " It doesn't

get much clearer than that.

 

The U.S. news media largely ignored the memo for five weeks after it was

released in The Times of London. Then some asserted that it was " old

news " that Mr. Bush wanted war in the summer of 2002, and that W.M.D.

were just an excuse. No, it isn't. Media insiders may have suspected as

much, but they didn't inform their readers, viewers and listeners. And

they have never held Mr. Bush accountable for his repeated declarations

that he viewed war as a last resort.

 

Still, some of my colleagues insist that we should let bygones be

bygones. The question, they say, is what we do now. But they're wrong:

it's crucial that those responsible for the war be held to account.

 

Let me explain. The United States will soon have to start reducing force

levels in Iraq, or risk seeing the volunteer Army collapse. Yet the

administration and its supporters have effectively prevented any adult

discussion of the need to get out.

 

On one side, the people who sold this war, unable to face up to the fact

that their fantasies of a splendid little war have led to disaster, are

still peddling illusions: the insurgency is in its " last throes, " says

Dick Cheney. On the other, they still have moderates and even liberals

intimidated: anyone who suggests that the United States will have to

settle for something that falls far short of victory is accused of being

unpatriotic.

 

We need to deprive these people of their ability to mislead and

intimidate. And the best way to do that is to make it clear that the

people who led us to war on false pretenses have no credibility, and no

right to lecture the rest of us about patriotism.

 

The good news is that the public seems ready to hear that message -

readier than the media are to deliver it. Major media organizations

still act as if only a small, left-wing fringe believes that we were

misled into war, but that " fringe " now comprises much if not most of the

population.

 

In a Gallup poll taken in early April - that is, before the release of

the Downing Street Memo - 50 percent of those polled agreed with the

proposition that the administration " deliberately misled the American

public " about Iraq's W.M.D. In a new Rasmussen poll, 49 percent said

that Mr. Bush was more responsible for the war than Saddam Hussein,

versus 44 percent who blamed Saddam.

 

Once the media catch up with the public, we'll be able to start talking

seriously about how to get out of Iraq.

 

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