his week Senate Democrats demanded a vote of "no confidence" in Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Predictably the Republicans blocked the move. One thing's for sure, it has opened the door to a rough debate on the progress, or conduct, of the war. Recent polls show that Democrats now have a small advantage on the issue of which party is best equipped to deal with Iraq. In the past two elections the GOP managed very successfully to convince the electorate that they were the party best equipped to deal with Iraq. Times are a-changing and I wonder how many people you know, who think that our leadership is effective? Mr. Bush and the majority Republicans in both the House and Senate have failed to deliver on so many significant issues, they will likely continue to stress, in these 60-something days until the mid-term elections, The War on Terror and National Security.
In a sentence, Rosa Brooks writing for the L.A. Times put it succinctly, "Five years after 9/11, the Bush administration has run out of troops, ideas and political capital. That's probably why President Bush was able to assure us this week that "America is safer" after 5 years of the war on terror.
I would respect the opportunity to ask the President to reflect, with the passage of time and with all we know, in hindsight, why we went to war with Iraq, a state which had absolutely nothing to do with the terrorism and murderous criminality of 9/11. We now know that the administration selectively exaggerated and used foreign intelligence to make the case for the invasion of Iraq. I would really like a candid answer to the same question posed to the senior President Bush. It won't happen until sometime in the future, when "W" is retired and out on the hustings promoting a ghost-written book.
Our president is continuing to deliver a series of speeches he calls "winning the struggle between freedom and terror in the Middle East." He claims his statements are non political.

We have been told that on his recent vacation to Crawford, Texas, the President read three books. In his case it might have been more appropriate for him to have read newspapers, news magazines, learned journals and reports from various current-day thinkers about what to do with regard to the predicament in which we find ourselves.

And a final thought, topical and on the domestic front, our president stood recently in the ruins of New Orleans and vowed to do "whatever it takes" to rebuild...and then he flew back to Washington DC and slashed several of the programs that would help.
He called for us to stand united behind our troops, a most laudable idea, but then oversaw increases in healthcare costs for over one million veterans.
He speaks frequently of making the United States more competitive in the 21st century - but he slashes student aid.

We deserve better,