A Slightly Different Tone At The Same Old Address

The most amazing thing about President Bush's address to the nation last night was every news organization's interpretation of it, which had Bush taking responsibility for the mistakes made concerning the war with Iraq. Here's what President Bush did say:

From this office, nearly three years ago, I announced the start of military operations in Iraq. Our coalition confronted a regime that defied United Nations Security Council resolutions, violated a cease-fire agreement, sponsored terrorism and possessed, we believed, weapons of mass destruction. After the swift fall of Baghdad, we found mass graves filled by a dictator, we found some capacity to restart programs to produce weapons of mass destruction, but we did not find those weapons.

It is true that Saddam Hussein had a history of pursuing and using weapons of mass destruction. It is true that he systematically concealed those programs, and blocked the work of UN weapons inspectors. It is true that many nations believed that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction. But much of the intelligence turned out to be wrong. And as your president, I am responsible for the decision to go into Iraq.

Yet it was right to remove Saddam Hussein from power. He was given an ultimatum -- and he made his choice for war. And the result of that war was to rid the world of a murderous dictator who menaced his people, invaded his neighbors, and declared America to be his enemy. Saddam Hussein, captured and jailed, is still the same raging tyrant -- only now without a throne. His power to harm a single man, woman, or child is gone forever. And the world is better for it.

Listen carefully. Did you hear any admission of error? I didn't. Admitting that "some of the intelligence was wrong" suggests that the majority of it was right. He is still justifying our presence in Iraq by chronicling Saddam Hussein's crimes against his own people, which was not the reason originally given for going to war. Also, the clever use of rhetoric ("a regime that sponsored terrorism" is supposed to mean "Saddam gave sanctuary to those responsible for 9/11") still maintains that there was total justification for the war. Also, this administration has yet to prove that Saddam Hussein had "a history of pursuing and using weapons of mass destruction" or that he "systematically concealed those programs, and blocked the work of UN weapons inspectors." Why would Iraq hide what it didn't have in the first place? And I am in no way saying Saddam was not a horrible dictator, and his use of chemical weapons is an absolute fact. It's just that neither crimes against one's own people nor chemical weapons are just cause for a war.

Bush did go on to say "I know that some of my decisions have led to terrible loss and not one of those decisions has been taken lightly," but that's hardly satisfactory at this point. I think all the world wants him to say at this point is something along the lines of "We were mistaken not only in our belief, and desperate pursuit, of an existing link between September 11th and Iraq, but also the existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq." Y'know, something like that.

Maybe I'm expecting too much, but with his present approval rating (misleading, as that would suggest that there is any approval), you would think there would be less arrogance at this point in his career, and more frankness. I admire Bush trying to accentuate the positive aspects of the US residency in Iraq (Saddam's overthrow, the election, the rebuilding, etc.). To be fair, it does seem as though real progress is being made.

But President Bush genuinely doesn't seem to understand why his critics keep dogging him regarding the flimsy evidence on which this war was originally based. He doesn't understand why we, as a nation, cannot move on. President Bush simply needs to just give the nation an "I'm sorry" and mean it.

Maybe he's saving it for Christmas?