As it gradually dawns on Americans that this whole going-to-war thing is ugly and brutal, and that a high number of Muslims don't like being killed and humiliated by Christians, and that the notion that we're somehow safer now that we've plunged our arm shoulder-deep into the anthill of Muslim rage is not quite, um, sound...as we try to figure out how we can pull our country back from the brink of disaster, what exactly is the etiquette with regard to pointing out that our President is a menace to us and the world?

How do we politely say that the right-wing lunatic echo chamber that we've been calling the White House really is, no hyberbole here, a threat to the survival of the planet? I mean, is there a nice way to say this?

Fred Branfman gives it a stab with "President Bush: Endangering Your Life":

It is important that Americans understand that each of us, and our loved ones, are far more likely to die from a terrorist attack as a result of President Bush's irresponsible action in attacking Iraq before securing homeland security or taking other steps needed to reduce the threat posed by Al Qaeda and other terrorists. If Americans understand this, we will be able to avoid or limit the damage to our interests posed by Mr. Bush's actions. If we do not, tens of thousands of American - and foreign - lives will be needlessly lost in the coming decade.

Well I guess that's one way to put it. Branfman goes on...

Americans support attacking Iraq for two basic reasons. First, they are deeply afraid. The fact that September 11 marked both the first major attack against American civilians on their own soil in our history, and that Americans were targeted simply because they were Americans, has unleashed both conscious and unconscious fears of death in each of us.   Secondly, Americans believe the President can protect them. The Presidency still has a deep hold on many people's psyche. Ernest Becker has suggested that people cede power to leaders so that they will protect them from death. This is why leaders have combined secular and religious power for most of recorded history. While America has a deep democratic tradition and distrust of politicians, the Presidency is the only office which holds a transcendent meaning in our psyche. George Bush won both houses of Congress in 2002 because people instinctively turned to him to protect them from terrorism, and because he successfully played the role of their protector.   The fundamental issue that will thus determine not only war in Iraq, but future violence by and against the U.S. and the extent to which the American people remain willing to surrender their freedoms, is whether the President's policies are perceived to protect American lives.