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Times Watch for October 30, 2003

    Dowdy Old Anti-War Talking Points

     After comparing President Bush to Iraq's notoriously benighted information minister "Baghdad Bob," columnist Maureen Dowd Thursday makes a few stumbles herself while running through the liberal litany on the war in Iraq: "The war began with Bush illogic: false intelligence (from Niger to nuclear) used to bolster a false casus belli (imminent threat to our security) based on a quartet of false premises (that we could easily finish off Saddam and the Baathists, scare the terrorists and democratize Iraq without leeching our economy)."

     For one, Bush never mentioned Niger in his State of the Union address, as even the Times now admits. Bush also never called Saddam Hussein an "imminent threat." In fact, in his last State of the Union address Bush clearly indicated the threat wasn't imminent: "Some have said we must not act until the threat is imminent. Since when have terrorists and tyrants announced their intentions, politely putting us on notice before they strike?"

     And Dowd's claims about the weak U.S. economy don't look too prophetic Thursday morning, given this AP story, which begins: "The economy grew at a scorching 7.2 percent annual rate in the third quarter in the strongest pace in nearly two decades."

For more of Maureen Dowd's anti-war tirade, click here.

• George W. Bush | Columnists | Corrections | Maureen Dowd | Economy | Iraq War | Niger

    Bush's "Radical Conservatism" a Problem in Iraq

     In his Thursday column, Thomas Friedman wonders if Bush can succeed in Iraq, given his radical conservatism: "Can the president really be a successful radical liberal on Iraq, while being such a radical conservative everywhere else--refusing to dismiss one of his own generals who insults Islam, turning a deaf ear to hints of corruption infecting the new Baghdad government as it's showered with aid dollars, calling on reservists and their families to bear all the burdens of war while slashing taxes for the rich, and undertaking the world's biggest nation-building project with few real allies?"

     Keep in mind that Friedman has been the most pro-war of the Times columnists.

For the rest of Friedman's take on the war, click here.

• George W. Bush | Columnists | Thomas Friedman | Iraq War

E-mail TimesWatch Director, Clay Waters, with TimesWatch feedback at cwaters@mediaresearch.org