Iraq Estimates Were Too Low, U.S. AdmitsThen we turn to page A9 and see what this site and my brethren/sistren in the Daily Links have been saying all along:
The White House acknowledged Monday that it substantially underestimated the cost of rebuilding Iraq and that even the additional $87 billion it was seeking from a wary Congress would fall far short of what is needed for postwar reconstruction.
Administration officials said President Bush's emergency spending request — which would push the U.S. budget deficit above the half-trillion-dollar mark for the first time — still left a reconstruction funding gap of as much as $55 billion.
Iraq-Terrorism Link Continues to Be ProblematicI know. "Duh." But the mainstream press is finally growing enough hair to begin to challenge this maniac.
The president invoked the terrorism theme repeatedly in his speech to the nation Sunday night, portraying the invasion of Iraq as part of the U.S. response to the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Tying Iraq to the war on terrorism has become crucial to the Bush administration's appeal for continued public support, particularly with the failure so far to find banned weapons and the ongoing turmoil that is undercutting visions of a swift transition to democracy that might spread across the Middle East.
But the terrorism link is problematic. The administration has yet to prove that deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein had any complicity in the Sept. 11 attacks, or even any significant relationship with Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network. For that reason, some counter- terrorism experts challenge Bush's characterization.
"I do think this argument about terrorism is disingenuous," said James Steinberg, vice president and director of foreign policy studies at the Brookings Institution, a nonpartisan public policy center in Washington. "This wasn't the place you had to confront Al Qaeda. They weren't there, and this is not what that war was about."
Meanwhile, the war has attracted foreign fighters to Iraq, Al Qaeda members reportedly among them, U.S. officials say. Some counter-terrorism officials and experts are expressing concern that the war could incite a new generation of terrorists.
Finally, the letters. Not a single one supports said maniac - including these gems:
"Now Bush says it's the United Nations' responsibility to fix the mess he and his administration created. When will this irresponsibility, hubris and abuse of power end?"That last one has a delayed-reaction chill to it. For that reason alone, Cheney's pals will do everything they can in the next year to prop this crackhead up so they get their share of - what's sure to be - the $140 billion pie.
"Without the alleged Iraq-terror connection, the president's case for war in Iraq collapses like a house of cards. This administration is incapable of admitting mistakes or telling the truth and should not be believed."
"How about starting a giant pool where everyone guesses how much of the $87 billion will go to Halliburton?"
But at least (along with Scheer's column) reading the paper today was a welcome surprise.
