In January 2001 Hamill predicted War on Iraq, etc.

[For PaisAn]

The entire article is rather eerie to read now, 3 years later. I'm posting sections with link to full article at the end.

Pete Hamill on the Bush Presidency
Published in Letras Libres

January 2001

The coming presidency of George W. Bush should fill intelligent people with fear and trembling. It was one thing to have presidents stained with illegitimacy in the 19th century; it is quite another to have an illegitimate president in full possession of the mightiest military machine in the history of the world. Rutherford B. Hayes, a mediocrity who lost the popular vote and became president in 1888, did not have the hydrogen bomb.

...snip...

Bush will then be tempted to do what most American presidents do when they can’t make anything happen at home. He will look beyond the borders of the United States. That is, he will try to find some small nation to beat up, wrap the assault in flowery idealistic language, and thus try to look presidential. He will talk about sacrifice and honor, and the brave American fighting man. He will try to force unity upon the fractious Congress. He will cite his rise in public opinion polls as proof of his wisdom and his “courage”. In that spirit, John F. Kennedy – who won his 1960 election by a mere 100,000 popular votes – allowed the Bay of Pigs operation to go forward, and sent the first substantial numbers of troops into Vietnam. Ronald Reagan was content to beat up Grenada while creating and funding (illegally) the Contra War in Nicaragua. Bush the Father went after Saddam Hussein in the Gulf War and killed 2000 human beings in Panama to arrest Manuel Noriega in the bloodiest drug bust in world history.

...snip...

So we should be prepared for armed melodrama. Bush is not a worldly man. His father was head of the CIA, ambassador to China, and president of the United States. The son stayed home. During the Vietnam War, he hurried into the Texas National Guard, defending the skies over Houston. He has visited only two foreign countries, one of them Mexico (the other seems to have slipped his mind). He was the first presidential candidate in memory who needed briefings about geography.


But he knows where Iraq is, and is completely aware of what his father failed to do in that country: remove Saddam Hussein. A son in rivalry with a father can be a very dangerous man. To show "leadership", the new President Bush might defy the European allies of the United States, and risk another oil crisis, by seizing on some slight -–real or imagined – to finish off Saddam Hussein. He would thus force his father to admire him and get a boost in the public opinion polls.

...snip...

I hope none of that happens. I hope Bush resists all such temptations. But in 2002 the United States will have Congressional elections. The Democratic Party, bitter over the presidential election, will turn out every possible vote in order to seize control of Congress. The Dauphin will be under intense pressure from his advisers to do something dramatic. We should all be prepared for the sight of corpses.


http://www.petehamill.com/
If this brings you to the home page then click on Journalism and scroll down on the left

[NewJeffCT]

1. The Onion predicted it as well

Scary how accurate their 1/18/01 article was - it's almost like an urban legend now.

[SnohoDem]

3. Link for that Onion article

http://www.theonion.com/onion3701/bush_nightmare.html

[For PaisAn]

6. Thanks

Thanks for the link.

[For PaisAn]

5. Didn't know about The Onion article

I'll check it out.

[NewJeffCT]

9. it's scary

It is scary how prescient the Onion article was (or is?)

[rockymountaindem]

2. The night he was "elected"

I said to myself "I guess we're going to war with Iraq in the next four years". It was pretty obvious he was gunning for Saddam during the campaign.

[For PaisAn]

8. I knew it would be bad with Bush in

but had no idea he'd start a war (and get away with it).

[Doctor_J]

4. Hamill is pretty observant

he's Breslin with a national perspective. Not surprising he nailed it.

[For PaisAn]

7. Hamill

Good description of him. He's my all-time favorite.