Bush rhetoric hides

oily motivations
It has been reported that former President Dwight Eisenhower was shocked to learn that half of all Americans are of below average intelligence. In those days, presidents expected to engage the public in rational discourse. Today, presidents lie quite freely, hoping that the law of averages will keep enough people in the dark.
President George W. Bush is a case in point. His coming war against Iraq is neither about terrorism nor about weapons of mass destruction. It is about oil, and it was planned long before Sept. 11, 2001. In an astonishingly effective campaign, Bush has managed to mislead and confuse a great many Americans about this simple fact.
It is interesting to compare the pennings of war supporters, for example Salena De La Cruz’s comments in the Emerald (“Time for action against Iraq,” ODE, Feb. 17), or Sean Walston’s letter (“Column sheds light on Iraq threat,” ODE, Feb. 21). Such statements are usually quite emotional and invariably express faith in the Bush administration. Supporters rarely doubt the validity of the administration’s evidence, such as that presented by Colin Powell during his pathetic performance before the United Nations, nor do they wonder why most. Informed people in the world now think that Bush, rather than Saddam Hussein, is the more serious problem.
Saddam Hussein is indeed an evil man, but there are much worse, and he was once even our “friend.” His worst mistake was underestimating our lust for his oil. What will we do when Iraqi oil runs out?

Jim Remington

professor

physics