Communication

I agree with Andrew Sullivan: “This war is for the future against the past, for representative government against a vicious theocratic dictatorship from the Leninist vanguards of the Sadrists. The president needs to tell the people this. His failure to communicate what is actually going on, why we're there, what we're doing, and what the stakes are is the prime current fault of the administration. We need a real speech and a thorough explanation of what is going on. We need an honest, candid, clear war-president. Where is he?”

Maybe Bush got spooked by his lackluster appearance on “Meet the Press” but he’s got to come out and delineate the path from 9/11 to Iraq and beyond. Start with Beirut, then Khobar Towers, and the USS Cole. This war has been going on for decades and it won’t stop just because we say we don’t want to fight it.

(A postscript thought: maybe Bush will let Condi Rice make this forceful point today.)

Update: Just so - here's Condi's opening statement.

Update II: Powerline is live-blogging the testimony.