Mass Destruction

President George W. Bush, who for much of the last eight years engaged in long-range combat with critical media, spent an entertaining 45 minutes yesterday morning up close and personal with the White House press corps. It was an elliptical final encounter that skipped from serious issues to post-presidential musings such as how he would feel about making his wife's morning coffee. No shoes were thrown as Mr. Bush cheerfully thanked the journalists for their service, aggressively defended many controversial decisions, admitted a number of tactical errors, complained that reporters had "misunderappreciated" him, and cautioned President-elect Barack Obama against self-pity or neglecting defense of the nation against a possible terrorist attack.

MANCHESTER, N.H. -- In his first debate of the presidential contest, Texas Gov. George W. Bush threatened to use military force, if necessary, to take out weapons of mass destruction from Iraq.The Republican front-runner, who appeared to emerge from the 90-minute encounter unscathed, cautiously defended his qualifications and his policies last night against a steady barrage of criticism from five Republican opponents.Meantime, his leading challenger for the nomination, John McCain, tried to turn aside, with a wisecrack, allegations that he is too hot-tempered to be president.

OF COURSE the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) spied on Iraq. How else could it fulfill its mission?The organization of technical experts from several countries tried valiantly to discover Iraq's chemical and biological weapons and missile delivery systems. Saddam Hussein, Iraq's dictator, threw every obstacle in its path.On its face, Iraq's spying charges were always true. That's why UNSCOM was created by the U.N. Security Council.But the spying charge was never a reason to drop UNSCOM or to end the sanctions that respond to the continued concealment of weapons of mass destruction.

WASHINGTON -- Turning a significant corner in its dealings with Iraq, the United Nations Security Council yesterday began discussing a French plan that calls for a lifting of the 8-year-old oil embargo and an easing of weapons inspections.The United States and Britain repeated their opposition to lifting sanctions unless Iraq disarms and discloses its programs to develop weapons of mass destruction. But State Department spokesman James P. Rubin made clear that the French plan could serve as the basis for developing a new U.N. approach to Iraq.

ALL COUNTRIES should support a mission to Baghdad by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan to persuade the dictator Saddam Hussein to comply with U.N. resolutions on inspections for weapons of mass destruction.The United States, poised to bomb strategic locations in Iraq with token assistance from a handful of allies and the use of bases in a few Arab countries, should wait until diplomacy is exhausted in the eyes of its advocates before launching violence.The Clinton administration has tried valiantly to prepare the ground for strategic military air strikes, both with the Americanpeople and with the world community.

WASHINGTON -- In a last-minute compromise, Congress has revived the independent commission charged with streamlining the efforts of 96 federal agencies that deal with the threat of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, as well as the means to deliver them.The panel was left for dead three months ago, largely at the hands of House Speaker Newt Gingrich and a top foreign policy lieutenant, Rep. Benjamin A. Gilman, a New York Republican. The lawmakers objected to the scope and makeup of the panel, headed by John Deutch, former director of the CIA, and let its legislative mandate lapse.

Some carry gas masks in their trunks. Some have antidotes in their glove compartments. They've been through drill after drill. Are they ready?They are the M*A*S*H unit for Doomsday.They are the military doctors, nurses and medics who, when the inevitable biological or chemical attack comes, are going to be responsible for the injured, who'll have to keep their wits amid chaos, who'll have to fight a deadly, unseen, sometimes unknown, enemy.One hundred of them - volunteers all - have crammed into classrooms at Maryland's Edgewood Arsenal and Fort Detrick for the first medical class to address all three weapons of mass destruction - chemical, biological, nuclear.

WASHINGTON -- After nearly a decade as the world's only superpower, the United States still fits uneasily into the role."The indispensable nation," as Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright describes the United States, has assumed so many responsibilities overseas as to stir resentment in some regions as a military and economic bully.It's a bulwark against Iraqi germ weapons, Iranian terrorism, Balkan ethnic carnage, Latin American narcotics and Asian financial turmoil. Yet at crucial points, Washington has trouble getting its way.Despite sending 10,000 extra troops and two aircraft carriers to the Persian Gulf, Washington found itself unable to call the shots in negotiations with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

WASHINGTON -- It has been 12 years since the United States bombed Libya for ordering a terrorist attack that killed and injured Americans, leaving President Ronald Reagan to vow, "If necessary we shall do it again."Now President Clinton has retaliated for terrorist bombings and launched a new War on Terrorism."We will not yield to this threat. We will meet it no matter how long it may take," said Clinton, while Secretary of State Madeline K. Albright held up a troubling future. "This is the biggest threat to our country and the world as we enter the 21st century," she said.

THE oft-discussed and endlessly postponed strike against Saddam Hussein has finally happened: Hussein had proved once again -- as if there were any doubters -- that he has every intention of keeping his war-fighting machine intact, including weapons of mass destruction. Now he is paying the penalty for his endless flagrant violations of U.N. Security Council resolutions.The attack is unquestionably deserved. But it is imperative that this current military campaign go well beyond the tactical military goal of destroying suspected sites of missiles or weapons of mass destruction, or even of punishing Hussein for "noncompliance."

In a crowded classroom above the lawns of the U.S. Naval Academy, midshipmen are getting a dose of reality from a muscular Marine officer in desert fatigues. "You have to have the willpower to make a decision even when you don't have all the answers, even when your decision is going to get someone killed," growls Capt. Ted Greeley. "Everybody's going to be scared, physically exhausted, unwilling to go on ... but you have to." Greeley led a Marine rifle company through fierce fighting in Fallujah, Iraq.

It's hard to decide which part of the establishment to despise the most, the corporate or the political. I say it's fair to divide your disdain equally, since the political class and the corporate cutthroats are co-conspirators in the creation of the world's most powerful oligarchy, the one that has leeched mountains of money from the masses for the oligarchs' own hedonistic pursuits, sparking the financial forest fire now engulfing the world economy....

President George W. Bush, who for much of the last eight years engaged in long-range combat with critical media, spent an entertaining 45 minutes yesterday morning up close and personal with the White House press corps. It was an elliptical final encounter that skipped from serious issues to post-presidential musings such as how he would feel about making his wife's morning coffee. No shoes were thrown as Mr. Bush cheerfully thanked the journalists for their service, aggressively defended many controversial decisions, admitted a number of tactical errors, complained that reporters had "misunderappreciated" him, and cautioned President-elect Barack Obama against self-pity or neglecting defense of the nation against a possible terrorist attack.

The Bush family devised a simple, numerical means to distinguish between the presidencies of father and son: George H.W. Bush was called "41," and George W. Bush became "43." To mark the imminent - and merciful - end of 43's reign, here are 43 remembrances of the departing administration. There were actions to pacify or mobilize the right-wing elements that brought Mr. Bush to power: 43. Restoring the so-called Mexico City policy prohibiting American aid to groups that provide abortion counseling in other countries.

WASHINGTON - President-elect Barack Obama will likely confront a biological or nuclear attack at home or abroad if the United States and its allies do not act decisively to prevent it, according to a report released this week by a panel created by Congress. The report found that the United States had taken important steps to counteract nuclear proliferation and, to a lesser extent, biological terrorism, but had "not kept pace with growing risks." The nine-member, bipartisan commission presented its conclusions yesterday to Vice President-elect Joe Biden and Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, Obama's nominee for secretary of Homeland Security.

When it comes to the war in Iraq and other foreign policy issues, Republicans like to hark back to the stalwart presidents of the Cold War. Sen. John McCain has invoked Harry Truman and Ronald Reagan as kindred spirits, and so has George W. Bush. Which raises the question: Why do they embrace those leaders while rejecting their policy? The centerpiece of the U.S. approach to the Soviet Union was captured in a famous 1947 essay by American diplomat George Kennan, who rejected either war or retreat in favor of "a long-term, patient but firm and vigilant containment of Russian expansive tendencies."

Should the United States have invaded Iraq five years ago? Revisionist history and partisan politics aside, I happen to believe that large elements of the argument to do so made sense at the time. But so what? Neither my belief in the need to confront Saddam Hussein and his weapons of mass destruction program, nor the belief of those who felt that under no circumstances should we have set one foot in that country, means a thing. It is what it is. We broke it, and we need to fix it. Highlighting the negative, ignoring most of the positive and using the misery of the war to score cheap debating points have been in vogue for the last few years.

PHILADELPHIA -- Too bad the trial of Vice President Dick Cheney's former top aide, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, is getting only a fraction of the media fuss stirred up by the death of Anna Nicole Smith. Mr. Libby's perjury trial is crucial to U.S. security. It has laid bare how the White House skewed the intelligence on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and sold these distortions to the media. What makes the tale even more unnerving is the possibility that the process is being repeated with Iran.

For 9/11 family members, last Tuesday's election results hold promise. The probable new speaker of the House ran her campaign on a pledge to implement all of the 9/11 commission recommendations in the first 100 hours of her leadership. To hear that a powerful congressional leader such as Rep. Nancy Pelosi wants to take on this issue should give me hope. Ever since my mom was murdered that terrible day more than five years ago, I have pushed for our government to step up and do the right thing by creating the 9/11 commission and then heeding the bipartisan recommendations.

LOOKING BACK In his many press briefings during his tenure as President Bush's secretary of defense, Donald H. Rumsfeld was equally expressive in word and in front of a camera. A look back: HE SAID IT "We know where they are. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat." On Iraq's weapons of mass destruction "Death has a tendency to encourage a depressing view of war." "As you know, you go to war with the army you have, not the army you might want or wish to have at a later time."