On Iraq

It says alot when our President continues to hold a view on Iraq that, according to recent polls, almost 75% of his fellow countrymen disagree with.

The advice on what to do, whether it be from commissions, government agencies or departments, new appointees or even a former Secretary of State or two, continue to pile up in the "will be looked at seriously" stack on the president's Oval Office desk.

We can only hope that Laura Bush can nudge him to actually read any of them, like she has done with the Shakespeare writings and other literary works that the president so proudly boasted about having completed during the late summer.

How many American soldiers have died since then? How many American soldiers have been wounded or scarred, physically or emotionally, for life since then?

Why do we seem to want a democracy in Iraq more than the Iraqi people themselves?

There is only one person who can walk into the Oval Office and tell this president that the events in Iraq have reached the point of insanity and that it must be stopped sooner rather than later.

The surrogates have have their say, they have given it their best shot and the uncertainty still exists as to how much 43 has heard or absorbed. No, there is and always has been, only one that can reach 43.

That person is 41, the father, a man who faced death in war, a man who knew the names of military friends who were killed in action.

George H. W. Bush, like so many veterans, has in his heart those painful memories of war and with them the understanding of the impact on the families that are affected. He also knows the politics of it, whether it be from his days in Congress or at the U.N. as the U.S. ambassador. He could even draw upon his expierence as the head of the CIA if need be, not to mention his time as both Vice President and as the ultimate decider during his time as President.

The tears he shed the other day in Florida speaking about his eldest son, Jeb, the outgoing Govenor of that state, were from that same heart. I wonder how much of a stretch it would be to say that mixed in with those proud tears for his eldest son were perhaps one or two of sadness for the son in the Oval Office, the stubborn one with this mess on his hands, a mess of his own creation.

I hope that he, 41, gathers it all together and, for the sake of those in the field patriotically carrying out this mess of a plan, and for their families, sits W. down and tells him in no uncertain terms it's over.

LBJ had this moment with Eugene McCarthy in the New Hamshire primaries, Nixon had Howard Baker and Barry Goldwater in the Oval Office. It's time for dad to be the decider one more time.

Should 43 choose not to listen, then for the sake of stopping the deaths of American soldiers, 41 should reveal to the world his advice to his son.