Support BuzzFlash Get a copy of click image MORE BuzzFlash INTERVIEWS WORLD MEDIA WATCH P.M. CARPENTER MAUREEN FARRELL BARBARA'S DAILY BUZZ SOUTHERN STYLE CARTOONS THE ANGRY LIBERAL EDITORIALS CONTRIBUTORS MAILBAG PERSPECTIVES ANALYSIS NEWS ALERTS LINK ARCHIVES SEARCH ABOUT FAQ

Bush World - What CNN Didn't Tell You

A BUZZFLASH READER COMMENTARY
by Paul E Maciekowich

All is normal in Washington after the summer break. Congress and the President were greeted by an alarming report regarding the dismal status of our highway, water, an energy systems. News on the nations education system is just as bleak. Bush's lack of funding for his grandiose education program "No Child Left Behind" was spreading havoc in Missouri, Florida, Delaware, Alabama, Minnesota, Maine, and Illinois just to mention a few.

Meanwhile, Donald Rumsfeld is still trying to be secretary of state. He once again laid verbal siege on Iran and Syria for their failure to control their boarders. These attacks came as Rumsfeld headed for Afghanistan and Iraq to view firsthand his successful military conquests.

On the corporate crime front, the State of Oklahoma indicted Bernard Ebbers. Mr. Ebbers, former chief executive of WorldCom Inc, was arrested and booked on state criminal charges that he cheated investors in an $11 billion accounting fraud that led to the biggest bankruptcy in U.S. history. The Department of Justice has failed to file any federal charges against Mr. Ebbers. John Ashcroft and the US Attorneys were instead sent around the country by the President to barnstorm for the Patriot Act. The "General" has also been distracted by a federal judge in Michigan. He has two weeks to explain why he should not be required to appear in court to tell why he violated the judge's gag order by commenting during this year's terrorism trial.

Paul Wolfowitz continues to promote Iraq as a haven for international terrorist rather than acknowledge his dismal effort in the post-Iraq reconstruction planning. He also attempted to distance himself from post Iraq by blaming this ineptness on a depersonalized Bush administration.

Colin Powell once again has donned his white hat. He is receiving credit ala UN Resolution 1441 for moving President Bush to a new multi-national approach regarding Iraq. He has also dismissed as "total fiction" a newspaper report suggesting that he and the U.S. military Joint Chiefs of Staff together had out maneuvered "Black Bart" Rumsfeld in convincing the white house to seek a U.N. resolution to bring more international troops to Iraq. Powell is also credited as the force behind the administration's shift to a rational approach in dealing with North Korea.

The President, after a summer of poking cows in Crawford, has also returned to conventional ways. Before the summer break he was committed to government based on public relations and spin. His first discussion with congressional leaders after the break was a recommitment to this type of government. He told congressional leaders that he will mount a very aggressive public campaign to explain the U.S. mission in post-Saddam Iraq.

However, this "aggressive public campaign" was missing from the President's first speech given in a Kansas City music hall. The assumption is that speech writers and the public relation firms had not yet produced a final mission project statement for Iraq. This lack of a mission in Iraq sheds light on a persistent charge that the White House failed to develop a comprehensive reconstruction plan. In short, without the "why," there can be no "what."

The Rove public relations machine also has returned to the Potomac invigorated. They have already started on their next assignment, which consists of fooling the public once again. This time, their goal is to sell the public on the idea that the administration really desires the U.N. in Iraq while they keep them out of Iraq. Since there is nothing like success, the Rove machine will use the same plan that convinced the public to support the war. They have 60 billion reasons to motivate them.

Rove Inc. will follow the successful "1441-Niger-Aluminum-War" script. The "man in the white" will be blamed for convincing the President to go to the U.N. Colin Powell will then present a detailed resolution to the evil U.N. Powell will then fight over every noun and prepositional phrase in the resolution. The end product will be an agreed upon resolution that is as clear as the "serious consequences" phrase in Resolution 1441. Once this is done, the man in the white hat passes any future misunderstandings or public ambiguities to the executive branch spin doctors.

Meanwhile President Bush's involvement in the UN resolution will be limited to a generalized repetitive phrase that will become the official White House mantra . At the same time, neocons like Michael Leeden and James Woolsey will be free to take verbal and written "pot shots" at both Colin Powell and the UN. This "1441" strategy, insures a presidential political persona that is appealing to all his supporters regardless of their stance on this issue.

Once the UN gambit is accepted, the multinationalist Bush pushes hard for congress to appropriate $60-$70 billion for Iraqi reconstruction. At the same time, the Washington Post or the NY Times runs an in depth article entitled: Bush Sheds Unilateralist Label. This all results with a congress and a public more at ease with the administrations new world perspective. Finally, the $60-$70 billion appropriations bill is passed by voice acclamation. The administration also receives a commitment from Congress for an emergency appropriation in early 2004, if needed.

This accomplished, we return full circle. The United States reasserts their sole dominance of Iraq and the reconstruction process. The neocons resurface and once again restart their anti-Syria, anti-Iran rhetoric. And of course, Colin Powell hangs up the white hat until it is needed again.

With cash in the bank, the Bush/Rove machine can breathe easy. They now have enough discretionary money to stay solvent and to forestall any investigation of the Development Fund of Iraq until after the 2004 election. In Bush World, all is normal.

A BUZZFLASH READER COMMENTARY