Bushamentalism

Anyone sense a pattern here?

Disregarded Iraq warnings appear prescient

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The warnings came not from anti-war Democrats, but from Republicans who were backing their president: Planning for a postwar Iraq was inadequate, they said. More U.S. troops would be needed. The United Nations should have a larger role.

In each case, the warning wasn't heeded. And in each case, critics now say it appears to have been on target.

Some senators say U.S. efforts in Iraq might be better off today if the Bush administration had worked more closely with Congress. They are encouraging the administration to keep that in mind as it makes plans for handing over control of Iraq on June 30.

Postwar planning was inadequate "and I'm hopeful that's not being repeated," said Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Fat chance of that.

This is an administration that is addicted to breathing its own exhaust. Time and again -- from its failures to act on warnings about imminent terrorist attacks, to ignoring intelligence about the non-presence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, to its utter failure to properly prepare for the aftermath of any invasion of Iraq -- the Bush administration has demonstrated its modus operandi:

It determines what "the truth" is by a sort of faith-based process that is predicated primarily on whatever political advantage it might gain from policy. Then it pursues only the information that will back up that thesis. And it adheres to it through hell and high water, regardless of the consequences for anyone else -- particularly the nation. Its hallmark is a pronounced tendency to believe its own bullshit.

Note, in fact, its close similarity to religious fundamentalism, which determines the "truth" ahead of time and then seeks anything, even outright falsehoods, to support it.

Call it "Bushamentalism."