President on a Mission

But Herman returned the favor with a grilling:

"A lot of the consequences you mentioned for pulling out seem like maybe they never would have been there if we hadn't gone in. How do you square all of that?" Herman asked, when his turn came around.

Bush: "I square it because imagine a world in which you had Saddam Hussein, who had the capacity to make a weapon of mass destruction, who was paying suiciders to kill innocent life, who had relations with Zarqawi. Imagine what the world would be like with him in power. The idea is to try to help change the Middle East. . . .

"You know, I've heard this theory about, you know, everything was just fine until we arrived and -- you know, the stir-up-the-hornet's- nest theory. It just doesn't hold water, as far as I'm concerned. The terrorists attacked us and killed 3,000 of our citizens before we started the freedom agenda in the Middle East. They were. . . . "

Herman: "What did Iraq have to do with that?"

Bush: "What did Iraq have to do with what?"

Herman: "The attacks upon the World Trade Center?"

Bush: "Nothing. Except for it's part of -- and nobody's ever suggested in this administration that Saddam Hussein ordered the attack. Iraq was a -- Iraq -- the lesson of September the 11th is: Take threats before they fully materialize, Ken. . . .

"I fully believe it was the right decision to remove Saddam Hussein, and I fully believe the world is better off without him. Now the question is: How do we succeed in Iraq?"

The Elephants in the Room

Amazingly enough, the White House press corps didn't ask a single question about what I would argue are the two most critical issues for Bush to address these days: The fact that the American public doesn't trust him anymore, and the fact that the courts keep on finding that he's seized more executive power than the Constitution allows.

A majority of Americans routinely say Bush is not trustworthy. In particular, his assertions about the Middle East frequently raise questions about his ability to acknowledge reality when things don't turn out the way he intended.

And just last week, a federal judge struck down Bush's warrantless domestic wiretapping program, scolding him for taking the law into his own hands in a way that was more appropriate for a king. That of course came on the heels of a devastating Supreme Court ruling on June 29 striking down his military tribunals for terror suspects.