"GIs Die, a President Lies" - The Record, Bergen Co., NJ

[Jersey Devil]

PRESIDENT BUSH just won't stop.

He won't stop linking the war in Iraq to 9/11, even though Saddam Hussein and his nation had absolutely nothing to do with the terrorist attacks.

He won't stop falsely insinuating that the invasion was necessary to help prevent future terrorism here.

In his speech this week on Iraq, Mr. Bush referred seven times to the 9/11 attacks.

He did this because it works. Even among a public increasingly skeptical of the need for the war and pessimistic about its progress, the president's constant harking back to 9/11 |can sow confusion and dilute opposition.

It can make people just a little less sure of the truth - which is that the invasion has made the United States more vulnerable to terrorism by fomenting Islamic radicalism. It has made Iraq a breeding ground for such terrorists when before it was not.

Mr. Bush's problem is that he's running out of ways to try to justify an unjustifiable war, a war with no end in sight.

Even in his own party, some congressional members have called for announcement of an exit strategy.

But once you start a war, it's not easy to end it. If the United States were to pull out all its troops now, Iraq would probably deteriorate into a bloody civil war that could lessen the already fragile stability in the Middle East. If we were to announce some sort of deadline for troop withdrawal, that would only encourage the insurgents.

The hope is that a new Iraqi government will have enough legitimacy and that the |new Iraqi armed forces will have enough strength to maintain stability after the U.S. forces leave.

At some point, however, it might become clear that the U.S. presence in Iraq is inciting more violence and causing more problems than it is solving. Then, whether Iraq is stable or not, the United States will have to get out.

Mr. Bush and his advisers must be able to recognize that grim turning point if it comes.

But that would require a candid assessment of unpleasant facts from an administration that has trouble with truth.

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[indepat]

1. Trouble is always had with truth when truth would be so troublesome