I think it may indeed be this fascination Americans have with George W. Bush's image that has to be corrected before we can see what this man has done to the country. It was the American's people's faith in him--not his policies or capabilties, just his trustworthiness--that is the reason the country followed him happily into war. You say we need to go to war, GWB? Well, okay, if you say so.

Branfman also quotes from "The Doubts of War", in Time, March 3, 2003:

Again and again in interviews last week, Americans told TIME that their faith in Bush is what ultimately overcomes their reservations about his policy in Iraq. They trust that the leader they saw after 9/11 will not mislead them about the dangers that Saddam poses. Winston says Bush has become a kind of touchstone of people's faith. `People may not always agree with him, but they trust him,' he says. Which is why the President has staked so much of the rationale for war on his own credibility and why many Americans will continue to go along with him — as long as he turns out to be right.

Will the U.S. public's response to greater threats of terrorism here in America (surprise, surprise) be to put more trust into the President--and a policy of brutal military occupation of a region violently opposed to our presence? Or will we all turn the corner and start to consider, Hey, maybe these guys really were nuts.

Will the obvious become thinkable?

Space aliens always help out in these sorts of situations. Fortunately Salon got ahold of one and asked it to conduct an interview with an Earthling:

The Questioner: Excuse me, I've just watched several hours of TV coverage of the war in the nation called Iraq. I saw howling mobs in something called the "Arab world" chanting "Death to America!" and live coverage of buildings being blown up by this America's bombing and shelling, civilians screaming and sobbing over dead relatives after these attacks, captured American soldiers with bewildered expressions, and reports of whole cities going without food or water and fears of epidemics.

Apparently thousands of people have died in just the first few weeks of the war, and many more thousands will die in coming weeks and months. What is responsible for all this human suffering and mayhem?

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