Why the sudden push from Mr. Bush to get out in front on Iraq after so many months of silence. Killing Zarqawi? Finally getting an Iraqi cabinet? I don't think so. He has two problems. The first was money. He had to get a new bill passed this week to fund the war, which he got without much fanfare. The second was 2500. He has to distract the media and thus America that 2500 have died in Iraq. In short, he has to avoid questions about the financial and human costs of the war.
His problem is that he has run out of stunts to avoid the costs of this debacle from becoming a story, at least with respect to the the human costs. Fortunately, it's been a couple days since an American has been killed, although it is inevitable that we will hit the 2500 total in the next week. And where will Mr. Bush be when the 2500th American is killed? He will be behind the curtain in Oz-like brilliance. I'm sorry for my cynicism - I've always tried to be optimistic and given people the benefit of the doubt, but not with this Administration. Make no mistake -these are the same guys who used a fake turkey as part of a photo shoot in Iraq a couple of Thanksgivings ago, they defame war heroes, and out CIA agents. There is no reason to think that they have suddenly become honorable about the costs of the war. No way. Whether one agrees as to the propriety of invading Iraq, no one should be misled as to the costs and it looks to me like this Administration is trying to push this story off the front page. The question is, however, will the media bite. My guess is that they will, so as not to be "too controversial".