Speeches Aren’t Enough

It was a subdued President Bush who on Monday tried to describe a path out of the increasingly beleaguered Iraq occupation. He acknowledged that violence would probably worsen even after the hand-over of what he called “full sovereignty” to Iraq on June 30. Hope was more evident than confidence, with much of the burden for that hope laid on the United Nations’ ability to form a credible new government. But as he spoke to the Army War College in Carlisle, Pa., the president could not spell out the U.N.’s role.

The words “terror” and “terrorists” were used throughout the speech. Bush could be right that abandoning Iraq would leave it to become a permanent center of terror, but it was not to root out terror in Iraq that the U.S. went to war; Iraqi terrorism there from other than Saddam Hussein came with the war. It was weapons of mass destruction that formed the basis for the invasion, and much of the evidence was from exile leader Ahmad Chalabi’s Iraqi National Congress.

Until Sept. 11, Chalabi’s anti-Hussein organization was viewed skeptically by most, except its supporters in Congress, who in 1998 ordered funding for the organization. The State Department for a time cut off the group’s money because of poor accounting. The CIA was equally skeptical. But the Pentagon, whose top officials sought evidence against Iraq, bit -- hook, line and sinker. Chalabi rose again to golden status, presented as the presumptive ruler of a free Iraq. It seems, however, that Chalabi was simply deceiving a willing audience.

Times staff writer Bob Drogin reported Sunday that, according to current and former U.S. intelligence officials, Chalabi sent Iraqi defectors to at least eight Western spy services before the Iraq war apparently in an effort to con them into believing Hussein had unconventional weapons programs. There is suspicion that Chalabi was working with Iraq’s longtime enemy, Iran. Chalabi on Sunday predictably denied having classified information and accused the CIA of spreading lies about him.

Bush said Monday, “We did not seek this war on terror, but this is the world as we find it.” Had Chalabi’s bogus evidence not been sought quite so hard, had he been taken as found, he might have been seen as the poseur and con artist that he is now accused of being. The war, however, cannot be undone.

Bush has promised more speeches. If he wants the confidence of Americans and Iraqis, more answers and more-specific plans are necessary.