An American Turning Point

By Peter Dyer
August 20, 2006

Editor's Note: The new trend among Washington pundits is -- finally -- to admit that the Iraq War hasn't turned out exactly like they had expected. But they are still blaming tactical errors: not enough U.S. troops, not enough realism in the hasty decision to disband the Iraqi army, not enough targeting of Shiite militias, not enough saber-rattling against Iran and Syria.

Under this new "conventional wisdom," the Bush administration's mistakes in Iraq have indeed hurt the "war on terror" by alienating and radicalizing tens of millions of Muslims. But Washington's new "group think" continues to ignore a central reason why the United States is losing the hearts and minds of the Islamic world as well as vast numbers of non-Muslims across the globe: George W. Bush.

The elephant sitting in Official Washington's living room is this intractable reality: President Bush has so thoroughly lost credibility with nearly everyone on the planet and is so widely despised that he himself has become a clear and present danger to U.S. national security. Bush has become Osama bin Laden's perfect foil, yet Bush is incapable of admitting mistakes and changing course.

Thus, no serious discussion can be held about solving Bush's disastrous foreign policy as long as Bush and his team remain in office. In this guest essay, Peter Dyer suggests the first difficult step that the United States must take is to change national leadership and to demonstrate to the world that the American people are determined to reclaim their proud history as the chief defender of international law:

If and when President Bush is impeached and removed from office, the next step should be to arrest him and the other architects of the unprovoked invasion and occupation of Iraq.

If Americans ever find the will to do this, as we once did to German aggressors, history will remember it as a turning point in international relations. It will go down as one of the most spectacular and complete affirmations of the very best of American ideals.