David Brooks today - my letter to him

[rlev1223]

Saddam's yearning for a return to capability was not one of the reasons given by Mr. Bush for committing the United States to war, a war which in its consequence has been nothing short of disastrous - in terms of lives, international confidence (vital in a coopeartive effort against terrorism), "homeland" defence, you name it.

Mr. Bush said early on with varying degress of explicitness that Saddam was an immediate -- and then "gathering" -- threat. Neither were true.
The tale of the tubes makes it clear his team at least strongly suspected it wasn't true and that strategic exageration if not outright lying was not outside the administration's rhetorical toolkit.

There are, at this point, over 1100 dead American soldiers, perhaps 10 times that many seriously injured ones, and over 12,000 dead Iraqi civilians, not counting the maimed and homeless.

Each of these latter comes from a family which will not see the American presence as bringing freedom, only more misery. Our continued presence there is simply compounding an evil, as is your continued presence at the New York Times.

[gratuitous]

1. Good on you

I can't stand to read Brooks' clueless meanderings. But his relentless deathless defense of whatever the Bush casus belli du jour (pardon me for mixing languages) is just capers around in the land of nonsense.