Bush is responsible

Bush is the President. Never forget that fact. Even though Bush, and the "friends of Bush" push that Michael Brown, "Brownie", is responsible for the Katrina hurricane response disaster, "Scooter" Libby is responsible for outing an undercover CIA agent working on weapons of mass destruction proliferation, Karl Rove is responsible for arm twisting in the House and Senate to ensure that Bush never has to veto a piece of legislation, remember that these people either report to Bush or report to other top level people who report directly to Bush.

Bush is the Commander in Chief. Never forget that fact. He wanted to be a "wartime" President. Now we can see why he desired this title. Once America is at war, we all rally around the Commander in Chief. We cannot criticize Bush because we would be undermining the war effort by questioning our Commander in Chief. We cannot call any of Bush's actions, even those not related to the war, into question again because we would be seen as undermining the war effort and giving comfort to the enemy. Also, Bush claims special wartime powers, like holding prisoners of war with no access to due process or even humane treatment.

Now we know why the war America is in, the war on terror, is a war against an emotion. Since we will never be done fighting against an emotion, the war can go on forever. This way the wartime powers and wartime freedom from investigation can continue for Bush forever. Do not think this is a poor play on words. The White House picked the phrase, war on terror, quite specifically. They could have called it a war on Al Qaida, the people responsible for the attacks on 9/11. They could have called it anything more specific, but this would not have met the requirement of perpetual war for perpetual wartime powers.

Bush learned an important lesson when his father lost his re-election. The lesson was: the Gulf war ended too soon. Once 41's role as Commander in Chief during a war was over, 41 would now have to run on his domestic record, one that conservatives did not like. To keep the public from looking into their own pocket book, or at the economy in general, a war would have to be on-going through the election. Wars also have a stimulating effect on the economy, so the fighting would have an additional upside in the polls.

Since Bush is the Commander in Chief, he has a great deal of influence over the Generals in the Pentagon. He can tell Rumsfeld, the secretary of defense, to instruct the military to do things that help with the political side of the war, such as, keeping the number of troops in Iraq down so that opposition to the war will be minimized. Or as many have predicted, the troop levels will be reduced prior to the mid-term Congressional elections. Of course this has the added benefit of boosting popularity for the Republican members.

Bush wanted to invade Iraq before he was appointed President by the very same Justice's that his father appointed to the Supreme Court. He told a reporter long before the election that Saddam would have to be removed. One of the first matters of business that the new President and his staff discussed was how to invade Iraq and remove its president. This matter is part of the public record in several books by ex-members of the Bush administration, including a book written about the Secretary of the Treasury, Paul O'Neil.

Bush chose to be a wartime President. The 9/11 attacks were the Pearl Harbor of our generation that Bush used to justify the Iraq war. Bush's stratagem worked. He got re-elected, so he can continue with his raiding of the treasury, packing the Supreme Court, and breaking the New Deal, with Social Security as his first target.

Remember Bush is responsible for his actions.

And Bush should remember that Truman stated "The buck stops here", meaning that the President cannot push responsibility for decisions off onto someone else.