The Boy Can't Help It

As Dan Balz writes in today's Washington Post:

"Sept. 11 remains Bush's most reliable argument with the public when he faces political headwinds; it gave him the highest-rated moments of his presidency and helped sustain him through a difficult reelection campaign. Surprisingly, given how effectively he has used the collective emotion of that day in the past, Sept. 11 has been largely missing in the administration's discussions of Iraq this year."

Missing no longer ...

"9-11! 9-11! 9-11! Ahhhhh!"

Cue the prez:

"After September the 11th, I made a commitment to the American people: This nation will not wait to be attacked again. We will defend our freedom. We will take the fight to the enemy.

"Iraq is the latest battlefield in this war."

-- Bush at Fort Bragg, N.C., June 28, 2005

Never mind that he took the fight to the terrorists in Afghanistan, and rightfully so. Iraq was a different fight; it's simply one that morphed into the fight against terrorism once we took occupation.

"Many terrorists who kill innocent men, women and children on the streets of Baghdad are followers of the same murderous ideology that took the lives of our citizens in New York and Washington and Pennsylvania.

"Some wonder whether Iraq is a central front in the war on terror. Among the terrorists, there is no debate.

"Here are the words of Osama bin Laden: This third world war is raging in Iraq. The whole world is watching this war. He says it will end in victory and glory or misery and humiliation."

Again, our Prevaricator in Chief is playing as fast and loose here as daughter Jenna at a UT fraternity house. Iraq is surely a hotbed of terrorism, and that fact alone renders it difficult, if not impossible, to pull out -- but it became what it is after Dubya's war of choice. If you live in a house teeming with feces, filth, candybar wrappers and half-eaten powdered doughnuts (not that I'm speaking from experience here, by the way), you can't feign outrage when the cockroaches finally show up.

But no use crying over spilled milk, or blood, of course. Iraq is the new flashpoint for terrorism. No getting around that one. No sirreee, Mr. President, you've got us there.

On that point, we'll defer to Bull Moose:

"The President again restated the tie between the overall war against terror and Iraq. Whatever one thought about the link before the intervention, it is certainly true now. That is why we must prevail in Iraq regardless of the validity of the original claim. With all of his errors, mendacity and demagoguery, the President has led us to the point to where there is no turning back. His domestic political opponents are placed in a position where they must hope for his and our nation’s success. Defeat would come at an unacceptable price for our country and result in a precious victory for the terrorist foe.

"Those who will truly bear the burden are our brave soldiers and their families. We are humbled by their courage and their service. If only the President possessed the capacity to call on the rest of our country to give more. He does not. That is the nature of our current leadership."