State of Denial

Bob Woodward's new book, "State of Denial", will be remembered as the most explosive (KA-BOOM!!!) and devastating work of political journalism in to come out of the first decade of the twenty-first century. The headline in this morning's New York Times says it all:

"BOOK SAYS BUSH IGNORED URGENT WARNING ON IRAQ"

Woodward says in the introduction that his book is based on "interviews with President Bush's national security team, their deputies, and other key and senior players in the administration responsible for the military, the diplomacy, and the intelligence on Iraq". So, these murderous thugs were asleep at the switch? I'm shocked. Shocked! Let's go over some of the book's revelations, shall we?

1. In September of 2003, one of the administration's top advisers on Iraq informed the First Fool that thousands of additional troops were desperately needed to deal with the insurgency. He was ignored.

2. There was so much infighting among Bush's advisers that many of them were not on speaking terms with one another - a dangerous thing in a time of war when the sharing of information is crucial.

3. They dismissed as "too pessimistic" reports from commanders on the ground that the situation in Iraq was rapidly deteriorating.

4. According to the article by Times reporter, David E. Sanger, "Secretary of Defence, Donald Rumsfeld, is described as disengaged from the nuts-and-bolts of occupying and reconstructing Iraq - a task that was initially supposed to be under the direction of the Pentagon - and so hostile toward Condoleeza Rice, then the national security adviser, that President Bush had to tell him to return her phone calls".

5. When the head of the occupation, L. Paul Bremer, and key adviser on Iraq, Robert D. Blackwell, pleaded that at least forty-thousand more troops were needed, Bush ignored them.

6. Prior to the September 11 attacks, Rumsfeld was impeding efforts of the CIA to capture or kill Osama bin Ladin because he believed that the electronic signals they had been intercepting were, "part of an elaborate deception plan by Al Qaeda"

7. In July of 2001, CIA chief, George Tenet, and the head of the administration's counter-terrorism program, J. Cofer Black, tried to convince Condi Rice of the seriousness of the impending attack but they both left her office convinced that she wasn't taking the threats seriously.

8. According to family friend, David Boren, the First Fool's parents, George H.W. and Barbara Bush were both concerned about the wisdom of the invasion of Iraq. Barbara told him that Poppy Bush was "certainly worried and is losing sleep over it; he's up at night, worried".

9. Senior officials within the administration were "thoroughly uninterested" in the details for post-war planning.

10. When General Jay Garner informed the president and his cabinet of his plans to use three-hundred thousand troops from the Iraqi Army for post-war reconstruction, to his astonishment, there was not one question asked by anyone in the situation room. The Iraqi Army was disbanded shortly thereafter. General Garner was demoted.

11. There have been far more attacks on US troops than the American people are aware of (an average of eight to nine hundred a week, according to Mr. Woodward) but the administration has been able to keep the information from the American people by labeling it: "CLASSIFIED".

12. As bad as things are in Iraq at the moment, next year is going to be worse - much worse. George W. Bush and the people around him know this but, again, that information is....uhh....classified.

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Well! Well! Well! Guess what's going to be on my reading list next week! It really is a joy that I can't adequately put into words, watching this nightmare of an administration fall apart at the seams. As more revelations come out every day, it is becoming ridiculously obvious, even to the average viewer of FOX News, that sending these despicable people to Washington six years ago was the worst electoral mistake this country ever made in its two-hundred and thirty year history. The administration of George W. Bush is in "its final throes", as Dick Cheney would say. Documents from within are starting to be leaked to the press. People inside the White House are finally starting to crack and they're naming names. Watch as they start to flee, like rats from a sinking ship, this disgusting and criminal White House. The game is over and it's only a matter of time before their house of cards comes crumbling down. Their day of reckoning is almost upon them. The trillion dollar shithammer is about to hit the fan.

I can't wait.

Pray for peace.

Tom Degan

Goshen, NY

tomdegan@frontiernet.net