Bush team’s world views are alarming

Monday, Dec. 8, 2003 | 8:55 a.m.

The Nov. 17 Newsweek article on Dick Cheney presented an interesting view on the Iraq war. Before the war, hundreds of thousands of protesters marched in this country and in countries around the world. The protesters believed that anyone who could read should know that Saddam was not a threat to the United States and that he was not tied to al-Qaida. The assumption was that the entire Bush administration was lying about the issue because they had imperialistic designs.

The Newsweek article presented another view. First, Cheney persuaded the president of an immediate threat from Iraq even though the evidence had holes in it. Apparently the president does not check the facts himself before sending people to war. Second, Dick Cheney has a "Hobbesian view of life." He thinks "enemies lurk." In fact, Cheney still believes the weapons of mass destruction exist and that Saddam is tied to the Sept. 11 terrorists.

The article suggests to me that the president is an incompetent dupe and that the vice president is a paranoid schizophrenic. I still believe they were consciously lying. Still, it does not comfort me to consider the alternative -- that the people in control of the most fearful weapons known to man are incompetent and paranoid.

JERRY BITTS