Bush won’t be able to fool us again

Published 9:00 pm Monday, June 30, 2003

Obfuscate is one of those goofy old-timey words which turn up on a list of spelling bees now and then. It means “to confuse, as …. Like men whose senses were a little obfuscated by beer” in Washington Irving’s “Tales of a Traveler.” It was more recently used to describe the role of the clergy in the sex scandals that have racked the Catholic Church. Ralph Keating, chair of a committee investigating the mess, charged that the denials, obfuscation and attempts to explain away resembled the tactics of the criminal Mafia rather than that to be expected of church leaders. Keating is to be commended for his courage and honesty.

But where oh where is the statesman or legislator who will join Robert Byrd with the same courage in calling our Republican Mafia in the White House and Pentagon to task? It becomes increasingly clear there was no 9/11 al-Qaida connection, no nuclear material purchases, no massive tonnage of biological and chemical weapons, no imminent threat to our welfare; not one of the vaporous imaginings of those fevered minds, that were used to whip up the frenzy for pre-emptive war, existed. What did exist was a president who needed a war to cover his failures at home and a gang of four or five who have been preaching regime change in Iraq for 20 years. This seems to be in their minds a part of the Imperial Destiny of our democratic republic.

The two-thirds of the public who supported the war were lied to, fooled, conned, hornswoggled, obfuscated – take your pick. Many died as a result. The saying goes, “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me!” Don’t be fooled again by this wily bunch. Our country can’t afford it.

Lake Stevens