This Could Get Ugly

White House Rejects O'Neill Criticism

Apparently nicknaming people only keeps them on your side for so long. After nearly three years in office, George W. Bush finally has first insider attack.

Watching someone who was fired mount an attack on his former employer is always a bit suspect, but it's hard to ignore some of what Paul O'Neill is saying. More and more, it looks like Saddam was a self-aggrandizing thug, but not a terribly immediate threat to the United States, and certainly no more dangerous to us than several other petty tyrants. It's easy to see why neoconservatives saw the Iraq war as step one in a global quest to end all tyranny. If Iraq was fit to be a target, why not Syria? Why not Iran? Whether those wars come to pass or not, the view from the present makes it look very much like our current involvement in Iraq is the result of a personal (Bush family) obsession and political sleight-of-hand (Bin Laden=Saddam) rather than the principled invasion we were sold. I know that doesn't particularly bother some of you who think that the end of Saddam justifies the means, but it bothers me quite a bit.