Temporarily Assigned to Planet Earth

Founder: to fill with water and sink

I don't want this to be a political blog-- I have too many other things to chatter about. I hope this will be my last political entry.

It's just that there's this one thing, this one thing I can't get past. I keep going over it and over it, and I just can't figure out what role Bush plays in the Bush administration.

The press skipped lightly over this event I'm thinking of, the one I just can't get past. It was the July 14th press conference, the one with Kofi Annan, in which Bush said "The larger point is, and the fundamental question is, did Saddam Hussein have a weapons program? And the answer is, absolutely. And we gave him a chance to allow the inspectors in, and he wouldn't let them in. And, therefore, after a reasonable request, we decided to remove him from power..."

As I remember, these are the events that preceded the war: There was a victory for the UN when Saddam caved and let the inspectors back in. And Hans Blix said he was getting access, but he couldn't find anything. And there was some discussion of whether or not the US was withholding intelligence concerning the WMD, because we knew they were there, and Blix couldn't find anything. And I remember that the main issue at the UN was, should the inspectors be given more time? And the administration decided that Blix had had quite enough time. I remember a snatch of another press conference in which an administration official was asked if the UN inspectors would be given advance notice of an attack so they could clear out, and the answer was "Of course" and when the time came, they cleared out.

So Bush's statement at the press conference revealed that he had forgotten this sequence of events; he had forgotten the sequence of events that led to the decision to go to war.

Here's what I just can't get past: If you made the decision to go to war, would you FORGET what led to that decision? Would you FORGET? I mean, wouldn't you go over it, and over it, and over it, in your mind? Wouldn't you dwell on it? Wouldn't you remember every detail of it for the rest of your life? I know I would.

So the first step in this mental exercise is the easiest: Bush doesn't make the big decisions. But even if Cheney and/or Rumsfeld and/or Rice made the decision, if you were president, wouldn't you be so concerned about going to war that you would make them explain every nuance of the situation? And then make them explain it all over again? And then... WOULD YOU FORGET WHAT THEY HAD SAID? Even the conclusion that Bush doesn't make the big decisions fails to explain his cluelessness.

It seems that Bush doesn't even concern himself, really, with the big decisions. He has so much confidence in Cheney et al. that he just doesn't dwell on serious matters of state. So what does he concern himself with? Getting re-elected? No wait. That's Karl Rove's job. What else is there? Daily workouts and clearing brush on the ranch?