March 27, 2004
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Real Enemies, Part I
“Even paranoids have real enemies.”
– Saying attributed to Delmore Schwartz
According to the Washington Post and Newsday today, the President’s persecutors now include
Paul O’Neill,
formerly Bush’s Treasury Secretary
Richard A. Clarke,
formerly Bush’s counterterrorism chief
Rand Beers,
Bush’s counterterrorism chief after Clarke
Flynt Leverett,
former member of the Bush national security staff
Richard Foster,
Bush Medicare accountant
John DiIulio,
former director of Bush’s faith-based initiatives
“Others who have fallen out of favor over Iraq include former economic adviser Lawrence Lindsey, retired Marine Gen. Anthony Zinni and former Army chief of staff Gen. Eric Shinseki. All voiced concerns about either the expense or number of troops needed to occupy Iraq. All were treated dismissively by the White House. All are gone, but their estimates proved accurate….
Not every White House attempt at damage-control works. Last summer, White House officials tried to pin the blame on CIA Director George Tenet for not waving Bush off his State of the Union claim that Saddam was seeking uranium in Africa for nuclear weapons.
Political analysts rushed to proclaim Tenet a goner, but those obituaries proved premature.”
– Tom Raum in Newsday today
