-Caveat Lector- http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/021230/usnews/30bush.htm
"" As Bush knows all too well, ordering Americans into combat is a burden that only the commander in chief can fully understand�and it is a decision he may face in Iraq all too soon. "" Plain speaking The president talks with U.S. News about plans for the new year, racism�and the prospect of war BY KENNETH T. WALSH As President Bush wraps up his second year in the White House, he finds himself juggling an armful of new crises and old problems. In recent weeks, he fired his two chief economic advisers and replaced them with a supposedly more telegenic and persuasive team led by Treasury Secretary- designate John Snow. He ordered the construction of a rudimentary and controversial antimissile system to be based in Alaska and California. He tried to balance his calls for "compassionate conservatism" with tepid support for the besieged Mississippi conservative Trent Lott, who finally withdrew from his post as Senate Republican leader five days before Christmas. Most important, the president took another step toward war by citing omissions and deceptions in Saddam Hussein's new United Nations- required report on the status of Iraq's weapons programs. Yet, in a revealing year-end interview with U.S. News, Bush was optimistic about the future even as he acknowledged the daunting tasks ahead. He showed none of the cowboy swagger and Lone Ranger impulses for which he has been caricatured. "I hope the American people trust me," Bush said, sitting in front of an Oval Office fireplace bordered with pine cones, apples, and holiday greenery. "I hope they trust me when it comes to fighting this war on terror, and I hope they trust me when it comes to leading toward a more compassionate tomorrow, because I'm a compassionate person. The only thing I know to do is to speak my mind, show my heart as best I can, and to lead." What came across most vividly was his desire not to settle for small victories in 2003 but to think big. In a separate interview, White House counselor Karl Rove told U.S. News: "You've got to stick with trying to achieve what you set out to do in the first place. But leadership is creating political capital and then expending it on behalf of big things, new big things that are in keeping with your philosophical approach. Once you pass a big idea that's part of your platform�tax cut, education reform, trade promotion authority, and so forth� you have to go back and refresh the agenda and keep expanding it." No bigotry. Lott's withdrawal as Senate leader gives the president the opportunity to renew his campaign to prove he is a different kind of Republican, without the complication of working with a man tainted as a sometime defender of segregation. In the interview, Bush was eager, for the first time, to detail his views on America's continuing racial divide. But just 48 hours before Lott stepped down, Bush said Lott "shouldn't leave his position." The president did not want to give Lott the final public shove, even while his allies were working behind the scenes to force Lott out. "My attitude about race is that we ought to confront bigotry, all forms of bigotry," Bush said, "and I believe the American�I know the American people are good, honorable, decent people. And occasionally the bigot has his day. I don't think Trent Lott is a bigot. I find him to be a, you know, he's a friend. . . . My job is to continue to work for an America that welcomes all and that is nondiscriminatory, and I will do that." The controversy over whether Lott was fit to lead Senate Republicans ensures that Bush will feel compelled to address the racial issue in his State of the Union speech in late January. U.S. News has learned that White House aides were drafting what they called a "healing speech" for the mid- January Africa trip that Bush canceled the day Lott withdrew. A visibly tired Bush�who was nursing a cold�volunteered that he was shaking hands with 1,500 people a night at the seemingly endless series of White House holiday parties. He emphasized that he didn't really mind the chore, but aides said he was looking forward to a brief vacation at his ranch in Texas. Weighing war. When he returns from that getaway, he may face the most critical decision of his presidency: whether to go to war against Iraq. It is clear that this possibility is never far from Bush's mind. He argued that his foreign policy "has got to be bold, but it's also got to be understanding in that the nature of the new wars we face, in the nature of the problems we face, understanding the sense that we've got to work with others to achieve common objectives, and we're doing that." "The biggest issues facing us in '03 will be continuing the war on terror," Bush said. "The al Qaeda is in 40, 50, 60 countries; they're scattered around. We will have to continue to pursue them, which means that we must continue to work hard to keep this coalition together. The war on terror will require a constant evaluation of progress. . . . "A second phase of the war on terror, and an important part of the peace platform, will be Iraq. And we have worked closely with friends and allies in convincing them to join us and insisting that Saddam Hussein disarm. As you know, I have made it clear that if he won't disarm that we will lead a coalition of the willing to disarm him. My hope is that he will disarm." If Saddam does not, the men and women of the armed forces may be called to do the job. "You know, when you've got kids off in Afghanistan, the remote regions of Afghanistan, hunting in caves for al Qaeda killers, you're asking a lot of people. And we'll continue asking them to make that sacrifice." As Bush knows all too well, ordering Americans into combat is a burden that only the commander in chief can fully understand�and it is a decision he may face in Iraq all too soon. Stay informed with our Free E-mail Newsletters! Health Smart Money Matters and more! Subscribe to e-newsletter E-mail this page to a friend Copyright � 2002 U.S. News & World Report, L.P. All rights reserved. <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. 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