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http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD%2FMGArticle%2FRTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1031774880573&path=%21editorials&s=1045855934983


Bush Speaks

Richmond Times-Dispatch

Apr 15, 2004


President Bush should address the nation more often. His extended opening statement during his press conference effectively made the case for staying the course. The citizenry instinctively understands the stakes in the war against terror, but it expects and deserves explanation and accountability. When the public finds itself wondering what is going on, the President has an obligation to answer.

That is what Bush did on Tuesday, and he did it well. Although no one would call this President "The Great Communicator," when the occasion has called he generally has risen. This week he laid out the hopes and explained the intentions. He discussed a timetable. Perhaps his most valuable comments came when he identified the threat. Bush made it clear that the enemy is not Islam as Islam but an ideological strain that murders in religion's name. Islamofascism targets Christians; it targets Jews. It also terrorizes Muslims who scorn its malevolent call.

When critics discuss terrorism they frequently say the U.S. and others must attack so-called root causes. This is precisely what the U.S. is attempting to do in Iraq. The campaign against Islamofascism requires regime change in hellholes such as Saddam's Iraq. It relies as well on the nuturing of civil society. There are no guarantees in a task as difficult as this. Other options are less tenable.

The United States did not start this war. The struggle began long before September 11, 2001.

As forceful as Bush's statement was, it remained incomplete. While the justification for Operation Iraqi Freedom always transcended the issue of weapons of mass destruction, the administration focused on WMDs in the prelude to war. It had no other choice. A United Nations populated by clowns and jackbooted potentates seems unlikely ever to authorize decisive steps to enforce its professed ideals. A campaign on behalf of human rights would imperil many, if not most, of the body's members. Of the many reasons for striking at Iraq, the WMDs offered the only chance the UN could be persuaded to act. Bush would help his cause - and the nation's - if he forthrightly would address the missing WMDs. The question will continue to haunt the White House.

The administration has followed a disconcerting rhetorical trajectory since 9/11. Bush will speak to great effect and sometimes even to great acclaim, then seemingly will slip from the scene. Efforts of persuasion and reinforcement that should be sustained drift. He regains the momentum, only to fall back. Bush may not handle the press' baited questions well, but he connects with the country at large when he takes his case to the country at large. The naysayers will never relent. He shouldn't, either.