David Sanger has an article in the Sunday New York Times offering a foreshortened look at the current state of the presidential legacy George Bush threatens to leave with the nation. The story is short because there’s general agreement that the list of factors likely to determine the historical standing of the worst US president ever is also short: Iraq.

Hundreds of people who came out on a cold January evening to hear Congressman and Marine Corps veteran Jack Murtha speak on the war in Iraq were turned away last night from an overflowing town hall meeting in Arlington, Virginia, that was organized by my congressman, Jim Moran, who supports Murtha’s position that it’s time to pull the plug on Bush’s excellent adventure. But among the 600 or so who did get in were several Iraq War veterans, all of whom criticized the war.

When George Bush signed the defense appropriation bill containing John McCain’s amendment removing torture and other human rights violations from the official repertoire of the armed forces, he added his own little amendment: “Unless I say otherwise.” The vehicle through which he reserved the option to break the law is called a bill-signing statement, and as a Knight Ridder story revealed on Friday, the McCain bill was far from the first victim of the practice: he’s used it some 500 times since taking office.

“I’m afraid we’re going to have to expect this to go on,” said Mr. Rumsfeld on Sunday, referring to hit-and-run attacks which have left an estimated 31 US troops dead and scores wounded since the end of major combat on 1 May.

“There’s even speculation that during the month of July, which is an anniversary for a lot of Baathist events, we could see an increase in the number of attacks.”

‘US Warns of More Iraq Attacks’
BBC News
July 14, 2003

The Christian Communication Network reported on January 5 that a small band of Christian activists anointed with holy oil the door to Room 216 of the Hart Office Building, then scheduled to host Samuel Alito’s confirmation hearing. The group included the Reverend Bob Schenk, who, along with his twin brother Paul, heads the National Clergy Council; the Christian Defence Coalition’s Patrick Mahoney; and Grace Nwachukwu of Faith and Action, another Schenk-led organization. Nwachukwu is also associated with the Association of Female Clergy.

Terrorism hit record levels in 2005, according to data from the RAND Corporation available through the Department of Homeland Security-funded Terrorism Knowledge Base.

If you reveal your secrets to the wind you should not blame the wind for revealing them to the trees.
—Kahlil Gibran
Google’s decision to fight the Bush administration’s subpoena insisting that the company turn over its database information comes at the same time that Rove and the administration have decided to go on the offensive with [...]

Nobody paid any attention a couple of weeks ago when I reported last year’s rather startling increase in worldwide terrorism. The data, compiled by the RAND Corporation and available to the public at tkb.org, showed that, worldwide, the sum of “international” and “domestic” terrorist attacks increased by more than 50% between 2004 and 2005. So, I went to the White House today and asked Scott McClellan for his take.