Bush Needs to Focus on Primary Job
The Denver Post
October 12, 2003

President Bush is a man with a mission. His mission is to find those illusive Iraqi weapons of mass destruction at any cost. Even if that cost is $1 billion. Even if that $1 billion could be better spent on what he calls his priorities, like rebuilding Iraq or investing in kids at home. Imagine--$1 billion to try to prove he was justified in taking our nation to war with Iraq.

There must be an election looming around the corner, or the President wouldn't be so frantic to find what isn't there. After spending somewhere in the neighborhood of $300 million so far trying to find nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, he now wants to double that amount, another $600 million, hoping to find the weapons that, he assured us, made Saddam Hussein was so dangerous. Imminently dangerous to the United States.

As it turns out, Saddam was surely a monster, a threat to his own people. But, to the United States? It appears that we Americans were sorely misled by our President, using information that even the intelligence agencies believed was suspect. Even President Bush now says there is no evidence Saddam was tied to the September 11 attacks, although some of his Administration officials continue to allude to that thoroughly disingenuous allegation. As columnist Tom Freedman pointed out in a recent interview on National Public Radio, we Americans have found out that what the President assured us was a "war of necessity" has turned out to be a "war of choice". His choice.

But, the President keeps trying to prove that there really was a valid reason for sending our kids off to fight the Iraqis. It's time to put an end to that futile and deceptive search. It's time to admit that we didn't really need to topple Saddam, and to move forward, now that we have done so, to repair the damage we have added to the decades of Saddam's cruel rule.

Because if we don't do that, we will continue to waste huge amounts of money trying to vindicate the President. And that is not what taxpayer dollars should be used for. Since we are in this mess, let's use those scarce resources to help create a solid economy and sound democracy in the Middle East. That is the task before us now and one we have an obligation to complete.

First, we need a real plan. When we went into Iraq, we seem not to have anticipated looting and sabotage and attacks on U.S. military personnel. We were so busy congratulating ourselves on saving the Iraqis and waiting for their bouquets of flowers that we couldn't imagine they'd turn their rage on us. Now that those outcomes are obvious, we need to focus all our resources on turning on the lights and water, training a security force, and building a democracy. We haven't yet put sufficient human and financial resources into that effort. Putting $600 million into a wild goose chase is a terrible waste of the cash that is desperately needed, instead, to rebuild Iraq.

Next, we need to make sure we have enough troops in Iraq to do the job. Since our gladiator President swooped down on the deck of an aircraft carrier to declare hostilities were over, nearly one hundred of our troops have died and many more have been severely wounded. In fairness to our troops and their families, we need to improve their security and move more quickly to put Iraqis in charge wherever and whenever that is possible.

So, Mr. President, it's time to 'fess up to your mistakes and get on with the job at hand-bringing stability and security to Iraq. We need to get that done because we have some real security problems out there. Like North Korea, which does, indeed, appear to have nuclear weapons. Or the regrouping Taliban and the still at large, and very dangerous, Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden. Rather than trying to exonerate yourself, do the job in Iraq right. Focus on the real threats to global security. These should be your primary missions right now.