Boston Globe
by Thomas Oliphant

12/01/05

Had President Bush chosen to be candid and honest yesterday at the Naval Academy, he could have added a simple sentence to his oration on how marvelously things are going in Iraq. That sentence would read: Representative Jack Murtha is correct. In fact, if anything, the pro-military Democrat from Pennsylvania probably understated his case that the United States can and should withdraw its troops from Iraq over the next six months, leaving only a rapid response force in one of the Persian Gulf emirates. Had Bush chosen candor and honesty, he could have said flat-out that Hillary Clinton was correct this week in calling for a plan to withdraw troops next year in the aftermath of December's parliamentary elections. The president didn't do either because he was not being candid or honest about the situation in a place where he insists on an open-ended military commitment...

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Informant: Thomas L. Knapp